Harry Potter and the NotSoParental Observations
by MichiRini
Summary: Lily and James are in their third year of school and are taking Divination. They look into the crystal ball and see glimpses of Harry's life... different chapters for different memories. PLEASE RATE!
1. the art of divination

**_Disclaimer:_** _the only things in this fanfiction that belong to me are some new characters (the teacher, for example) and the plot. Everything else belongs to the genius making oodles of cash over in Britain. What's her name again? Oh yeah: JK Rowling. _

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_** Chapter One: The Art of Divination **_

Cursing the insane knight that had led her to North Tower, Lily climbed up the ladder that led to her Divination class with Professor Ramla. Walking into class late, Lily promised herself that she was never again going to ask a painting for directions; Sir Cadogan had nearly gotten her even more lost than she had been before asking him where the tower was. Lily breathed a sigh of relief—and mentally apologized for cursing the poor painted knight—when she noticed that the Divination professor had yet to make her appearance on the first day.

Lily looked for a place to sit. She was the only one of her friends who had opted to take Divination as one of her third-year electives, so neither Amissa nor Winola was here to sit with Lily. The class consisted mostly of Syltherins; the only other Gryffindors Lily could see were Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black, and James Potter. It looked like Sirius had been dumped out of his seat across from James; the guy was looking up at James from his sprawled position on the floor, a sore expression on his face. Black got up and, picking up his school bag, went to go sit at Peter's table. This left Lily with only one available seat: the one right across from James Potter, meaning that they would have to be Divination partners.

_That arrogant prat!_ Lily thought angrily as she made her way towards the table. _He planned this… he knew I would take Divination and put it on his schedule too, and then when I came in he uprooted Sirius so I would be stuck with him! That JERK!_

"Can I sit with you?" she asked James unhappily.

James smiled at Lily with a triumphant expression on his face, confirming Lily's thoughts. He gestured to the heavily padded armchair across from him, looking as if he had just won the lottery. He opened his mouth to say jauntily, "Of course you can sit with me, Evans! You are always welcome to sit with me. How about you sit with me at the Three Broomsticks tomorrow during the trip to Hogsmeade?"

"Shut it, Potter!" Lily hissed, seeing Professor Ramla coming up the ladder to enter the classroom.

The teacher was dressed in dark violet robes, silver swirls glinting on the sleeves and matching witch's hat. The witch's hair was dark brown and pulled back into a ponytail. Her dark brown eyes swept over the students assembled in the tower classroom as if assessing their auras. Professor Ramla had a slightly innocent-looking face, the kind of face that would keep even James Potter from getting detentions for his worst offenses.

"Raise your hand," the teacher said softly, still looking over the students, "if you chose to take this class on your own, without any parental or social persuasion." Nearly three quarters of the room showed raised hands, including those of Lily and James. Suddenly the teacher's face twisted and she shouted in a frustrated voice, "You _idiots!_ Why would you ever choose to take Divination? Don't you realize that you are risking your grade on your ability to see into the future, something that is only accomplished by one out of every _thousand_ witches and wizards?" Professor Ramla stopped talking, closed her eyes, and took a deep, calming breath. When she had calmed down, she asked in her soft voice, "How many of you are taking this class because your friends convinced you to come?" Two hands shot up: Sirius Black's and Peter Pettigrew's. "_Dimwits!_" the teacher accused, shocking the two boys into lowering their hands. "How could you let your friend convince you to join such a stupid class? You could be taking Arithmancy, or Ancient Runes, or Care of Magical Creatures! But no, you're in Divination, and _why?_ Because a friend convinced you to take Divination!" The teacher calmed herself down again and said, once again in a soft voice, "Please raise your hand if you were forced into taking this class by your parents." The remaining quarter of the class raised their hands fearfully, waiting for Professor Ramla's angry reproach. Instead, Professor Ramla looked at those students with pity in her eyes, and said empathetically, "I am so sorry…" The whole class looked stunned.

_I think Professor Ramla's right…_ Lily thought to herself. _I should have taken Arithmancy…this teacher's insane!_

"Now," Professor Ramla asked the class in her quiet voice, taking a seat in a winged armchair at the front of the classroom. "Who can tell me the exact definition of divination, as given on page two hundred and eighty-four of _Unfogging the Future_?"

Lily raised her hand, having read the book through. She had been very eager to take Divination and learn how to predict her future… until she realized just how crazy the teacher was.

"'The art of Divination is the ability to use the inner eye to foresee future events,'" Lily quoted when Professor Ramla pointed to her waving hand. James hadn't taken his eyes off Lily since she had sat down across from him.

"Ten points to Gryffindor," Professor Ramla granted. "Now today we shall be using crystal balls. The reason we are starting with something the Ministry of Magic advises should wait until the end of the year to learn is because crystal balls are something everyone is familiar with, and it's easy to make stuff up when you look into them." This oration shocked all of the students in the class, but Professor Ramla looked at all of the students as if _they_ were the insane ones. "I told you that only one in every thousand witches and wizards are actually able to perform Divination," the teacher reminded. "I don't want you to be disappointed, so we're going to start out with something that's easy to make things up with and then move on to more difficult methods. Eventually you will become so good at making up predictions that you should be able to get an E on your O.W.L. in fifth year."

Lily noticed James and Sirius exchanging smug glances; this was the type of teacher they could thrive under. Lily, however, thought the teacher's methods a bit tactless. She was, after all, supposed to be teaching the class how to look into the future, not how to tell tall tales.

Professor Ramla waved her wand, and a crystal ball appeared on each table. "I want you to predict the future for your partner," the teacher instructed. "Take turns! I will blow a whistle every ten minutes, at which point you will switch with your partner. Remember: make your 'predictions' _believable._"

Lily scoffed and turned to look at James. "This is the worst teacher I have ever had!" she exclaimed, leaning back into her armchair and rubbing her temples.

James smiled. "I like her teaching methods," he commented, rubbing his hands together. "Now, for my first prediction…" James looked deeply into the crystal ball, his hazel eyes wide with mock seriousness. In the background Lily heard Sirius tell Peter that he was going to turn into a rat at the next full moon, and scoffed at the silliness of the so-called "Marauders". "For my first prediction…" James repeated, still pretending to concentrate on the crystal ball, "I see you… and me… having lunch together at the Three Broomsticks… on a date!" James looked jubilantly at Lily. "You see? It's in the stars: we're meant to be together, Evans!"

"Can't you ever be serious?" Lily hissed angrily.

"No, sorry," James responded sadly. "The Polyjuice Potion needs another month to stew, and Sirius just absolutely _refuses_ to cut his hair…"

"Very funny," Lily commented, her anger almost boiling over. "Be seri—do this for real, okay?" Lily complimented herself on her quick save; she knew James would just make another joke if she had continued saying "Be serious."

"Fine." James looked into the crystal ball, this time a sincerely studious expression on his face. He looked into the magical orb for a few moments before saying, shocked, "I see you, with me! I think… I think we're married. You're holding a baby… I think we're going to get married and have a child, Evans!"

"Ha ha," Lily scoffed. "Potter, if you can't complete this assignment—."

"No, really Lily, that's what I see!" James looked frustrated that Lily didn't believe him, and for a moment Lily almost did fall for his trick. When James saw her doubtful expression James grabbed her head and brought it closer to the crystal ball, yelling "See? You… me… a baby with _my_ messy black hair and _your_ lovely green eyes?"

Lily gasped; it was like there was a movie playing out in the fog inside the crystal ball, and she was watching an older version of herself rocking a black-haired, green-eyed baby to sleep while an older James looked on over her shoulder…


	2. harry james

_** Chapter Two: Harry James **_

"I'm going to have a child with _you?_" Lily screamed, gathering the attention of the whole room. "I can't have a child with _you_, you're the most arrogant, irresponsible, big-headed—!"

"I thought I told you to make your predictions _believable._" Professor Ramla suddenly seemed to appear at the table, glaring down at James.

James gives the teacher an innocent face, gesturing towards the crystal ball. "Professor Ramla, I didn't make that up! I saw it—_Lily Evans_ saw it—there was an image, like a movie, of her rocking a baby! A baby with my hair and her eyes!"

Professor Ramla looks down at James, as if deciding what to do with him. For a moment Lily thought the teacher was going to put James in detention, but didn't know what James could possibly have done that was against the rules.

"Continue," the teacher finally ordered in her soft voice. "But this time try not to distract the other students." Professor Ramla left Lily and James's table to scold Sirius, who was laughing silently and giving James a thumbs-up.

_Boys…_ Lily thought, turning back to the crystal ball. What she saw there caused her to nearly jump from her seat, but instead she yanked on James's arm and urged him to look at what was happening inside the magical orb:

_"He's so beautiful…" Lily said, rocking the little baby in her arms. She leaned back in the bed at St. Mungo's, causing James to pull away from where he had been looking into the infant's eyes over Lily's shoulder. "What should we name him?" _

_James looked thoughtfully down at his child—his son! A bubble of pride filled Lily's chest when she reminded herself that this was also her son… hers and James's. She could never be happier than she was at this moment. _

_"We could name him after you," James said, smiling mischievously at his wife. "I think we need another Lily Potter in the world, don't you?" _

_"Stop!" Lily said, laughing. She tried to swat at her husband but she disturbed the baby, who had just been drifting off to sleep. "He looks so much like you, James…" _

_James gave a small laugh. "Only when his eyes are closed!" he commented, leaning in again to put his hand gently on the infant's head. _

_"He does look like you, James," Lily insisted softly, holding the baby closer to her. "Let's name him after you." _

_James gave a disgusted look. "No; there's only enough room in the world for one James Potter. Besides," James smiled again, this time with a reminiscent expression. "I think the teachers at Hogwarts would faint if they found out James Potter was coming back to school!" _

_Lily laughed and suggested, "We could give him your name for his middle name." _

_James still looked reluctant, but nodded. Lily took that to be an affirmation, and smiled. She ran her fingers through the baby's thick black hair. "You're a hairy little baby, aren't you?" she cooed. _

_James snapped his fingers. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "That's what we'll call him!" _

_Lily looked doubtfully up at her husband. "We're going to name our firstborn child Hairy?" _

_James gave his wife an exasperated look, something that was usually passed TO James rather than from him. "You know what I mean." _

_"Harry James…" Lily looked thoughtfully down at the baby. "How about Harold James, and we can call him 'Harry' for short?"_

_James scoffed at this idea. "What sort of father names his son 'Harold'?" he asked Lily, looking offended. "We'll name him Harry; that's a good, proper name." _

_Lily laughed but assented. She looked down at her little baby, her Harry James. The baby looked up at her with bottle green eyes that matched her own. Lily ran fingers through hair that was just as messy and unruly as her husband's. _

_"So…" James began mischievously. "What's his first broom going to be? I think the perfect broom for a little Chaser is a Phoenix Flight 400, but then again—."_

_"What makes you think he's going to be a Chaser?" Lily asked, smiling at James from her bed. "He could be a Beater, or a Seeker, or even a Keeper. Or he might not even like Quidditch." _

_A gasp came from the doorway. "James Potter's son not like Quidditch?" Sirius Black asked as he walked into the room. "You've got to be kidding me." _

_"No son of mine is going to not like Quidditch!" James said. "He'll be the best Chaser at Hogwarts, just like his daddy." _

_"Sirius!" Moony entered the room, shortly followed by Wormtail. "We're supposed to wait for the healers to tell us it's okay to come in! You can't just barge into the hospital room!" _

_"Moony, don't tell me you didn't want to see the new Marauder for yourself!" Sirius countered. "Look at the little guy! He's a miniature James!" _

_Lupin came to look closer at the baby. He shook his head, smiling slightly. "No; his eyes are green, like Lily's." Lupin looked at Lily with a smile on his face. "What have you decided to name Hogwarts' next valedictorian?" _

_"Harry James," Lily answered at the same time James replied with, "Who says he'll be a bookworm like YOU?" _

_The whole room burst into laughter. _

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"Are you sure it was an actual premonition?" Amissa asked Lily at lunch.

Lily had run to the Great Hall directly after Divination class ended, making sure not to look James Potter in the face. Now, amongst the safety of her two best friends, Lily was able to discuss what she and James had both seen in the crystal ball.

"We both saw it!" Lily said. "How could it not be a premonition?"

Winola shook her head and speared a piece of turkey onto her fork. "I don't think it was," she said pensively. "Professor Ramla said it herself: only one in every thousand witches and wizards—if _any_—are actually able to see things in crystal balls and such. I think maybe you and Potter were just hungry and saw something in the mist that just wasn't there."

"So Potter and I had the exact same hallucination?" Lily asked skeptically.

Winola scowled at her turkey. "Well, not _hallucination_ exactly… more like… I don't know. But whatever it was, it happened to both of you."

"You know what you should do?" Amissa asked Lily with a knowing look on her face. "You should go straight to the library and research premonitions."

Lily shook her head. "I don't have time, with all the homework I've been getting," she told her friends. "Even Divination, the class that even the teacher admits is stupid, I have homework in. '_Discuss the believability of the following premonition: It shall come to pass that a man shall wield awesome and terrible power; he shall cut short the lives of millions of people—magical and Muggles alike—before an infant with no extraordinary powers shall defeat him._'"

"Well, at least that one's easy," Winola said casually, smiling up at Lily. "An infant defeating a mass murderer? Yeah right!"

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"You know what this means, don't you Prongs?" James looked up from his ham and cheese sandwich to look at Sirius, who was smiling victoriously at his best friend. "It means that you and Lily are going to get together! And not just get together: you're going to get married and have a kid!" Sirius clapped his friend on the back.

James smiled and looked down the Gryffindor table at Lily, who was having a rather distressed conversation with her two friends. She didn't look at all like she was happy about this premonition.

_Well why isn't she?_ James thought to himself. _What's not to like about me? I'm the best Quidditch player in Hogwarts—I score over three quarters of the goals for Gryffindor! I don't think I look all that bad. Every other girl in the school seems to like me; why does Lily seem to have such a problem with me?_ James mussed his hair distractedly, trying to think of a reason why Lily Evans would hate the idea of marrying a guy like him.

"What's up, James?" Lupin asked, following James's gaze. "Ah. Lovely Lily doesn't look too happy about the premonition."

"Why the hell not?" James asked, putting his sandwich down on his plate to sulk. "What's not to like about me?"

"Should we list the reasons?" Sirius asked with a smile, raising his eyebrows.

"Number one," Remus began, not waiting for James to decline the offer. "You are constantly cursing Snape, even though you know she hates it when you bully him."

"Number two," Sirius picked up with a grin. "You are always mussing your hair. You're such an untidy child!"

"Number three!" Peter exclaimed, not wanting to be left out. "You are always pulling pranks!"

"And number four," the three friends chorused while James tried to cover his ears. "You are always asking her out!"

James looked up at his friends, very aware that all of Gryffindor table was now looking at him. He stood on his chair and pointed at the Slytherin table to give everyone something else to look at, and yelled, "I'll see you all on the Quidditch pitch, _Slytherins!_"

The Slytherin captain promptly stood on his own chair and shouted back, "What makes you think you can beat us, Potter?"

James shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly. "I dunno; maybe because I've scored three times as many goals than all of you Chasers combined? Maybe because Gryffindor _always_ beats Slytherin?"

James sat down, not really caring to continue the shouting match. He'd only done that to give everyone something else to concentrate on besides him; he really didn't want the whole school focused in on him and his problems with the future. If James wanted the whole school to watch him, he'd go after Snivellus or a teacher and give them all a show…

At this thought, James looked back at Lily. _Maybe I should lighten up on all of the pranks,_ James thought. Then he shook his head and grinned, turning back to the other three Marauders. There was no way he'd ever give up pranking!

But throughout the day, James kept remembering that premonition… how happy he and Lily had looked together… at their son, their little Harry James Potter.


	3. young martyrs

_Author's Note: This chapter and the ones that follow are dedicated to the following people: _

_neosildrake, because you were the only person to review any of my other chapters! glares at all other readers_

_houguilter, SweetSmiles, and Tina1587, because you three put me on your alert lists. Thanks so much! You have no idea how warm and fuzzy that makes me feel!_

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Lily wanted to strangle Professor Ramla. The idiot teacher had announced that the person they were partners with yesterday were to be their Divination "buddies" for the entire year. This meant that Lily Evans was to be partners with James Potter… _all year long._

Lily groaned as she dropped her school bag at the table James had saved for them. She sat down in the chintz chair across the table from him, glaring at her shoes. She was determined not to look at him for as long as possible, especially since she had caught James dangling Severus Snape by his ankle yesterday. She had told him to stop, but James wouldn't put the poor guy down! And Severus wasn't much better; when Lily had tried to help him, he had called her a mudblood and told her to go away.

Professor Ramla gathered everyone's attention, standing on her own armchair so that everyone could see her. She held her right hand up and, pointing to her hand, began explaining what each and every wrinkle on her hand meant. Lily drew a diagram of the professor's hand, labeling the wrinkles just in case there was going to be a test on this later. When Professor Ramla had finished, she asked, "Who can tell me why this aspect of Divination is a load of crap?"

Many hands flew into the air, but Professor Ramla called on Sirius Black to answer the question: "Because wrinkles and lines on your hand are just where your skin folds!" Sirius laughed. "They don't foretell anything!"

Professor Ramla granted ten points to Gryffindor, and then told the students to turn to page 120 in their textbooks. She asked them to read their partner's palm, making up creative meanings for the lines and wrinkles they found there.

Lily opened her textbook, ignoring James's already outstretched hand; she could tell he was euphoric that he had an excuse to hold Lily's hand. Lily ignored him, and opened her book to the appropriate page to find another diagram of a human hand, with labels pointing to the wrinkles.

Instead of giving James her hand, Lily grabbed his and looked for his life line. She was shocked by what she saw. "Potter, you're going to die in early adulthood!" she exclaimed, pointing to his short life line. "And according to this wrinkle over here, you're going to die a martyr… but that means someone is going to kill you, even though you're standing up to protect something you love!"

James smiled at Lily. "Maybe I'll die protecting you," he suggested playfully.

Lily gave him a disgusted look and continued, comparing James's hand with the diagram on page 120. One line predicted that James was going to have only one child, a son. _Well, we already knew about the son,_ Lily thought, then reproached herself; she still wasn't completely convinced that what she and James had seen in the crystal ball was an actual premonition. Another line predicted a painful death. And another line predicted that James's life was going to be filled with anxious fear for loved ones. _That doesn't sound like James,_ Lily thought to herself. _It's more likely that he'd see a family member on the ground, and James would start laughing at the weird way the bone was sticking out of their skin._ But then Lily remembered the premonition from yesterday, how James had been more… _loving_. He had been more mature, and infinitely more caring. And that look in his eyes when he had looked down at the baby—Harry James Potter—had been so… there really were no words to describe the emotions that Lily had seen in the future James's eyes.

Now it was Lily's turn to have her palm read by James, who ecstatically drew her hand to him. "Wow," he commented, putting his other hand to cover hers. "Your hand is so warm."

"Just get on with it!" Lily said irritably.

James smiled and pulled his other hand away to look at the diagram in the textbook. "OK, according to this you are going to die in early adulthood—hey, maybe we'll die together, in each other's arms or something—."

"_Potter!_"

"Alright, alright! This wrinkle shows that you are going to have one son… and then this line predicts the death of a loved one… this one over here says that you are going to die a martyr—well, that makes the both of us—and that one says that your life will be lived in fear for your family and loved ones." James looked up at Lily with a sincerely confused face. "Our palms are reading the same thing!"

Lily shrugged, pulling her hand away. "Well, if yesterday's predictions are correct, along with today's predictions, then we are going to get married and have a son together. That takes care of the one child. And if we're married, then both of us would be worried for the other, along with the boy—Harry James. Also, if we're married then I am going to assume that we will fall in love," Lily stopped here, gagging. When she finished, she continued: "So maybe our martyrdom is because one of us dies for the other, and the other dies for our son."

"But if one of us dies protecting our son, then what happens to the son?" James asked, looking actually interested in the conversation. And why shouldn't he be? He was planning out the rest of his life with Lily Evans!

Lily shrugged. "Maybe he lives through whatever we died protecting him from. Maybe he doesn't. Who knows?" Lily looked down at the table and realized that James was still holding her hand, but in a more romantic way now. She pulled her hand out of his, embarrassed that she hadn't realized that he had been stroking the back of her hand with his thumb.

Professor Ramla came by. "Tell me what you have predicted," she demanded, looking at one smiling James and one blushing Lily.

"Well," James began, smiling across the table at Lily. "We're both going to die painful deaths as martyrs in young adulthood, leaving behind one son. The lives we're going to have before we die will be filled with worry for each other and our son." James smiled up at the teacher, who was returning his happy expression with a glare.

"That is the most uncreative prediction I have ever heard!" Professor Ramla insisted. "Which one of you lovebirds copied the other's prediction?" The teacher glared down at the two confused students.

"We're not lovebirds!" Lily cried at the same time that James yelled, "We didn't copy each other!"

Lily exclaimed, "I hate James Potter, but so far every time we've looked at something to predict the future, it has told us that we are going to be married with one son. Why would I make this up?"

Professor Ramla looked closely at the two students in front of her. "From what I just saw, you do not hate Mr. Potter. What I saw indicated a deeper relationship—."

"James wishes!" Professor Ramla turned to glare at Sirius Black, who hurriedly returned to predicting Peter's apparently traitorous acts against his friends.

Professor Ramla turned back to Lily and James. "I want you to come up with a more creative prediction for your futures," she said. The teacher closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. She murmured something about a beach before gesturing for Lily and James to begin.

Lily grabbed James's hand and said angrily, "Potter will live a long and happy life with a tall, dark-haired woman. He will live in a land with plenty of rainbows and a smilie-face sun. His job at the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office will make him richer than he could ever imagine, and his children will love him and cry when he finally dies at the ripe old age of 72. Congratulations, James Potter!"

Lily flung James hand down on the table and held out her own, but Professor Ramla was already smiling down at her angered pupil. "That's the idea!" she encouraged. Smiling gently, the teacher turned to James. "What do you see in Ms. Evans's future?"

James took Lily's hand and looked closely at it, pretending to concentrate. "Evans is going to marry a black-haired Quidditch player, who will provide enough money for her to live comfortably in Godric's Hollow. Her son, Harry James, will resemble his father in everything but the eyes; his eyes will be green, like his mother's. They will live happily together until the day a dark wizard comes to their house, trying to kill their infant son. Lily's husband will immediately jump to save his family, but will be killed in the effort." James stood up, his voice getting more and more anxious as he continued to "predict" Lily's future. "Evans will try desperately to save her young son's life, but will be killed by the dark wizard." Panting, James looked back up at the teacher and slowly sat back down in his chair.

Professor Ramla looked furious. "That was way too detailed to convince anyone of the validity of your prediction!" she exclaimed. "Double homework for you tonight, Mr. Potter." The teacher walked off to chide Peter, who was predicting that Sirius was going to be convicted of a crime a friend had committed, and imprisoned for twelve years before breaking free and escaping.

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Something happened at Hogwarts that afternoon that had never happened before: Lily Evans, followed reluctantly by her two friends, sat with James Potter and his three companions during lunch.

"All you did was spice up the predictions we'd already made!" Lily exclaimed, tearing her knife through the slice of turkey she was supposed to be eating. "And you threw in some of your idiotic fantasies! How dare you?"

James looked at the angry Lily, trying to keep the smile off of his face. "How do you know I made all of it up?" he asked. "Because to be honest, I saw all that on your palm when I looked at it. I thought the professor would find it interesting to know that I was actually reading your palm, but I guess she just thought I was being a smart—."

"Wait a minute," Lily interrupted. "Are you telling me that that was an actual prediction that you made back there?"

James nodded, loving the way Lily raised her left eyebrow just a bit when she was skeptical. "I saw it on your palm."

"Everything?" Lily asked, amazed. "Every detail, like Godric's Hollow?"

James shrugged and took a bite of his sandwich before answering, "Well, I made that part up. Have you ever seen the houses in Godric's Hollow? They're huge! So when I saw on your palm that you are going to live comfortably, the first place I thought of was Godric's Hollow."

Lily looked triumphant. "So not all of it was a true prediction!" She nodded in approval to her friends, who looked as if they had no interest in the subject at all.

"Believe what you want," James said, trying to look disinterestedly down at his sandwich. "But the fact is: this is the second class in a row that you and I have actually seen something. Have you considered the possibility that those predictions might be true?" James looked sideways at Lily to see her reaction; she looked shocked. "Maybe I've been right all along, and we are meant to be together."

Lily's shocked face immediately turned to one of frustration. "Oh, not this again!"

"I'm not kidding around this time, Evans!" James insisted, putting his sandwich back on his plate. He stabbed the table with his finger when he continued: "In two Divination classes, you and I have had two predictions indicating that we are meant to be together! Why won't you get with the program and go out with me already? Maybe there's more to me than when you see me dangling Snivellus by the foot! Maybe if you got to know me a little better, you might come to realize that you might actually like me!"

Lily looked furious, and James instantly regretted his words. "How can I like you when every time I see you, you're doing something horrible, or asking me out?" she asked, standing up to leave. James grabbed her wrist.

"Remember when we met?" he asked, keeping Lily's wrist captive despite her efforts to break free. "Remember? On the day of the Sorting?"

Lily pulled away and, giving James a disgusted look, ran from the table. James gave a sigh and looked up to see Professor Dumbledore looking from Lily's retreating back to James's sulking figure with an almost knowing expression.

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Lily ran up to the girls' dormitories in Gryffindor tower and flung herself onto her bed to give the pillow a good punch. How dare Potter ask her out, after everything they've seen in Divination class? How dare he take those visions to be real?

_Maybe there's more to me…_

That's what he had said, but Lily doubted there was more to James Potter than Quidditch and torturing Severus Snape. Every time she'd seen Potter he'd been either flying around on that broomstick of his, or threatening and/or abusing poor Snape. How could she believe that there was more to James? How could he suggest it?

_Maybe there's more to me…_

He'd tried to remind Lily of the day they met, the day they'd both been Sorted into Gryffindor. Lily _did_ remember how they met, but that memory conflicted so much with the way James had acted since then that Lily did not like to remember it. It was much easier to hate someone you see bullying another student than it is to hate someone you once considered a friend.

_The train pulled away from King's Cross Station, pulling Lily away from her parents once and for all. Lily wondered how she was going to get on, never having known about the magical world until she had received her acceptance letter to Hogwarts last month. _

_The compartment door opened, admitting a boy with messy black hair. "Can I sit in here?" he asked. Lily nodded, and the boy shoved his heavy trunk into the shelf over the seat he sat in when he was done. He smiled at Lily, revealing two rows of very white teeth. "I'm James Potter." _

_Lily nodded. "My name's Lily Evans," she returned before looking out the window. _

_James Potter wouldn't leave her alone, though. "So what house do you think you'll be put into?" he asked, leaning forward in interest. _

_Lily looked back at James, a curious expression on her face. "What do you mean?" _

_James tilted his head slightly, his eyes widening. "What house do you think you'll be put into?" he repeated. When Lily just looked back at him blankly, James asked, "How can you not know about the houses?" _

_Lily shrugged. "My parents aren't magical," she explained. _

_James nodded slowly, leaning back in his seat. "You're a Muggle-born. That explains it." James proceeded to tell her about the four houses and their reputations, explaining that he was probably going to go into Gryffindor house because every generation of his family had been put there. When James next asked Lily which house she thought she was going to be put into, she answered that the one for her sounded like Ravenclaw. _

_"That's too bad," James said, smiling. "I was hoping you'd be in Gryffindor." _

_Lily smiled and turned back to the window, but James still wasn't through with her. "What's your favorite color?"_

_Lily looked back at James with a surprised expression. "I don't think anyone's asked me that since I was in elementary school," she commented. But James's hazel eyes seemed to want an answer, so Lily responded. "I don't know. Orange, I guess." _

_James smiled. "Mine's green." At that, James had pulled out a game of Exploding Snap, and handed Lily an orange game piece. James used a green game piece, and for the next hour the two of them played Exploding Snap on the floor of the Hogwarts Express. _

_After an hour, James looked at his watch. He excused himself from the game, saying that a friend had promised to join him but, since he hadn't come yet, James wanted to go look for him. Lily nodded and James took off, running out of the compartment to look for his friend. _

_Lily waited for what seemed like half an hour, although according to her watch it had only been ten minutes. _This trip would have seemed so much longer if I hadn't met James_, Lily thought. _I'm glad I was able to make a friend on this trip, so I'm not going to be completely alone when we get to school.

_After another five minutes, Lily decided to go to the bathroom. She felt like an idiot; the train ride was probably going to take only five more minutes, but Lily wanted an excuse to go looking for James. He had been looking for his friend for fifteen minutes! _

_Lily slid open the compartment door and began heading towards the bathrooms. About half-way down the train she began to hear the sounds of a fight, and after a few more steps Lily could see James Potter and another boy, their wands drawn on another scared-looking boy. Lily watched as James flicked his wand, sending the poor boy flying into the air by his left ankle. _

_Lily gasped, getting James's attention. James turned to her and smiled, still levitating the boy by his foot. "Look who I found," James said, amused. "This little prat says he can do dark magic!" _

_Suddenly the scared boy hanging by his foot uttered an incantation, and a burst of light emitted from his wand towards James. James dodged the spell, exclaiming, "Oh so now you're going to use Unforgivable Curses on me? You'll have to be quicker than that to catch me with the Cruciatus Curse!"_

_Lily felt her eyes stinging. "Maybe he has the right of it!" she exclaimed, her voice at a high pitch. "Maybe he has the right to curse you into oblivion, James Potter!" _

_With that, Lily ran back to the compartment and locked the door behind her. She started to cry, wishing that the door wasn't made of clear glass when James Potter came back, trying to calm her down to let him in. But the thing was, James didn't understand how much Lily cared about bullying. He didn't know about the years of physical abuse Lily had endured all throughout her years in Muggle schools. He didn't know that Lily had made a vow to end all signs of hazing at any school she went to, even a magical one. And as Lily sat there crying, she had decided that if keeping her vow meant ending her friendship with James Potter, so be it. James Potter was no longer her friend; he was her enemy. _

Lily cried now as she remembered that day. She had ended a friendship so she could fight a battle that she now realized would never succeed. Lily wished she could take it all back, go right back to that first day on the train and make friends with James. She would never condone his actions against Severus, but she would not have ended her friendship if she had known that her fight would be a losing one.

Lily sat up, thinking. Maybe it wasn't too late to change things. Maybe if she went down right now and apologized, she could resurrect their long dead friendship. After all, if the two predictions they'd had together were correct, they could at least be friends, right?

Lily got up out of the bed and began making her way through the corridors of Hogwarts, headed for the Great Hall once again.


	4. emerald fire

"What, too scared to pick on me without your friends here to watch?" Snivellus—no, Severus—asked, a sneer forming on his thin lips.

James shrugged. "Believe what you want, Sni—Severus. Right now all I want to do is get up to the Gryffindor tower and go to sleep." James tried to step around Severus to go up the marble staircase, but Snape stopped him.

"What's going on?" Severus asked. "What are you trying to pull? No jokes or pranks? No curses to make me levitate by the ankle? What are you up to, Potter?"

James shoved Snape's hand off of his shoulder and stepped around Snape, starting towards the stairs. He heard Severus mutter something, but he couldn't hear what it was; all of his concentration was centered on the effort of walking away from Severus Snape without performing some incantation or another. He'd promised himself at dinner that he was going to stop picking on Snape, so Lily wouldn't be able to use that as an excuse to turn him down the next time he asked her out.

Only after he heard Snape stalk off did James look up from his feet—in time to see a flash of red hair disappear past a corner farther down the corridor, in the direction of Gryffindor tower. James smiled; maybe keeping his promise wasn't going to be so difficult after all…

жжж

Lily still hadn't decided how she felt about the seemingly transformed James Potter she'd witnessed last night. She wasn't sure if this was a trick or if James truly had changed. After seeing him turn away from Snape last night, and then politely asking Severus to pass the shredded bowtruckle kidney in their morning Potions class earlier today, Lily wanted to see if he would treat her any differently in Divination, or if his change in attitude was restricted to the way he treated Severus.

"Hello, Lily," James greeted her as she took her usual seat across from him in Divination. "Care for a cup of tea?"

Lily could only look blankly at James and the teacup he was offering, until James explained that they were reading tea leaves today. She took the cup and drank deeply, inhaling the scents of apple and cinnamon as she did so. When nothing but the dregs remained, she handed the cup back to James.

James took his glasses off and placed them on the table, bringing the teacup closer to see the sodden tea leaves at the bottom more clearly. James looked confused, looking back and forth between the teacup and the table on page 117 that related pictures with predictions. Finally James looked up at Lily, confusion written all over his face.

"Is somebody abusing you?" he asked, somewhat defensively.

Now it was Lily's turn to be confused. "What? No! No one, here or at home, is abusing me at all!"

James pointed into the teacup while reading from the textbook, "'The fist indicates physical, mental, and/or emotional torture of the drinker or his heir.'" James looked quickly up at Lily. "Do you think our son is going to be abused?"

Lily shrugged, having pretty much accepted these weird occurrences as actual premonitions. "Maybe he's sent to live with someone horrible after we're murdered," she suggested. Lily looked up to meet James's level gaze, and knew that he believed these premonitions, too.

Suddenly, both teenagers burst into laughter. They had both realized how casually Lily had made her suggestion, as if being murdered was something normal to be in someone's future. Lily noticed Sirius and Peter looking confusedly over at the laughing couple; it was unusual that Lily and James ever did anything but argue, and yet here they were: laughing their heads off, with James even holding his side as he chuckled.

When Lily next looked up at James, she felt something odd: it was that same kind of happiness that she had seen herself feel in the crystal ball. Lily stopped laughing, and the moment passed.

James looked back at the teacup, comparing another shape to the ones in the book's table. "I can't find this one!" James exclaimed, flipping through pages angrily. He flagged down the professor.

"Making up a shape is risky, Potter," Professor Ramla reprimanded as se looked closely into the teacup James offered her. James pointed the shape out to her, describing it artfully as, "that thing with the little thing coming off, and the little branchie things connected by that big thing."

Professor Ramla's eyes widened. "How could you know about that shape?" she asked in a breathy voice. "That shape isn't in your textbook. This is the Shared Heart, a symbol predicting the use of ancient magic to protect a loved one in dire situations." The teacher shook her head, her eyebrows furrowed deeply. "Spells aren't usually predicted unless they are to be cast in the drinker's last moments of life…"

"So my last words are going to be a spell to protect our son," Lily said after Professor Ramla had walked off, shaking her head and murmuring to herself. "Fun. So what else is there in my happy little teacup?"

James tilted the teacup around in a circle before smiling and putting his glasses back on. "Just a heart, but it doesn't take a genius to work that shape out: love."

Lily laughed while James chugged the contents of his own teacup, holding his nose while he did. Grimacing at the unpleasant aftertaste—they must have gotten different flavors of tea—James handed the cup to Lily, who compared the dregs with the table in her textbook. She found what looked like an elliptical clock; the book explained that clock shapes symbolize time, while anything in an elliptical shape meant "elongated" or "more of". Next to the clock was a shape looking a bit like a bowtie, which apparently symbolized a gift. Lily told James that he was going to give someone more time, causing them both to laugh.

There was only one more shape in James's cup: a sideways eight that Lily didn't think was an actual symbol until she looked in the book and saw it on the chart: the sideways eight meant infinity in scientific terms, but in terms of Divination it was used to predict a legacy. Something that would remind people of James Potter for years to come…

_Harry had looked just like James,_ Lily remembered from the premonition in the crystal ball. _Is Harry going to be James's last legacy?_

When she explained her theory to James, he seemed to agree with Lily. It made sense that the son they were apparently going to have together was James's last legacy, especially if the boy was going to resemble James as closely as it had seemed in the crystal ball. After all, everyone had commented on how similar the baby had looked to its father—with the exception of the eyes.

Lily brought her bottle green eyes up to meet James's hazel ones, although with the red of his school robes they looked more like brown. When Lily's eyes met James's, she felt again that same happiness. The feeling was so strong this time that Lily was forced to smile, making James smile as well.

"Holy CRAP!" The moment was broken by Sirius's shocked cry; the boy had turned around in his chair to gawk at James and Lily. Sirius started laughing, full chuckles that caused his chest to heave. He had slid out of his chair by the time Professor Ramla had made her way over to him.

"I personally don't think Divination, as entertaining as it is to watch others attempt, is quite as funny as _this_," she said sternly, her hands on her hips. "What is so funny, Mr. Black?"

Sirius looked up at the teacher, bits of laughter still gasping through his speech to make it disjointed and hard to understand: "Professor—Potter and Evans—they had a… moment! They had a moment!" Sirius lost himself to fits of laughter again. Peter looked worriedly down at his friend, but Professor Ramla looked furious.

"You are interrupting this class to laugh about the way your friend is flirting with his partner?" she demanded. Her words caused Lily's cheeks to go up in flame—not literally, although Lily was sure that if she hadn't learned to master her magical skills then they really would have burst into flames.

Sirius looked up at the teacher, his face slightly crestfallen. "But Professor!" he argued. "Potter and Evans never get along! And now they're _smiling_ at each other! _Smiling!_ Isn't there some premonition of doom if two enemies smile at each other, or something?"

Professor Ramla glared down at the disruptive student. "No, but there is a premonition of detention if one boy does not learn to control his sense of humor." This caused Sirius to stop laughing immediately; of all the things he had ever been given detention for, laughing had never been one of them.

жжж

Amissa couldn't help but notice the way Lily kept looking over at Potter all throughout lunch. And each time, Amissa also noticed a flash of happiness in the red-head's green eyes. This happiness was not the usual gaiety that Amissa usually saw in her best friend's eyes; it was… it was almost like _euphoria_, the way Lily's eyes came to life whenever she looked over at James.

Amissa took out a piece of parchment and began a poem, something neither Winola nor Lily noticed, since Amissa usually wrote random bits of poetry.

_Emerald fires reveal_

_Happiness; euphoria_

_At the soul's true love._

As a poem it wasn't much; Amissa had written much better haiku in the past. But looking yet again at the way her friend's eyes danced when she next turned to catch a glimpse of James Potter, Amissa knew that there was no way she could change the words and still send the same message.

Smiling, Amissa crumpled the horrible haiku. Lily would never know about this poem. Amissa knew Lily would never admit she had a crush on James Potter.

* * *

_Author's Note: I am really proud of how this chapter turned out; I wasn't sure how I was going to incorporate reading tea leaves after the chapter on palm reading, but I think I did pretty well. _

_For those of you who are wondering: Yes, Lily and James are going to see bits of Harry's life, but that is probably going to start in my next chapter. I wanted to write about Harry's name (I hate it when people write that his real name is "Harold" when the Hogwarts letters give his full name: HARRY James Potter!) and the happiness that Lily and James have together as a married couple, to give them a bit of conflict. And then I had to write about their deaths, but I didn't want to repeat the story we all should know: "Lily, take Harry and run!" "Avada Kedavra!" "No, don't kill Harry!" "Avada Kedavra!" flash of green light and BOOM! It would have bored me to death. So I hope you like the way I have written things so far. _

_And finally: I am thinking of starting a romance between Lily and James, in case you haven't noticed. I'm not sure, because they don't get together until after their fifth year at Hogwarts (see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix) and this takes place only during their third year, but I am tired of writing argument after argument, and all of them about the same thing! I would rather write about a crush, and then possibly a romance. Don't expect it to turn into a story that is 100 romance though; I would die gagging on my own vomit if I did that. No, this fic is about Harry and his parents watching his life in an indirect way. Please review to let me know what you think of the fic so far and what you think of a possible romance starting between Lily and James in Year 3!_


	5. gryffindor seeker

"Potter passes the Quaffle to Soarirse, who quickly dodges Crabbe's bludger," Lily commentated into the magical megaphone. "Soarirse almost makes it to the Slytherin goal posts, but is quickly intercepted by the Slytherin captain, Lucius Malfoy. Malfoy grabs the Quaffle and begins making his way back towards the Gryffindor goal posts.

"I think Slytherin Seeker Lestrange sees something Gryffindor Seeker Longbottom doesn't, because Lestrange is suddenly racing straight up into the clouds! Longbottom quickly follows, but—no! Lestrange has got the Snitch. Slytherin wins the Quidditch Cup." Lily finished her commentary of the Quidditch Finals, wishing the year could go on just a bit longer.

Lily had just been getting to like all of her classes, even Divination. She and James had only prophesied small bits of Harry's life this year—a large boy who resembled Lily's sister's boyfriend; a dog chasing a little Harry up a tree; a cupboard under a set of stairs; they had even seen a ten-year-old Harry magically (albeit accidentally, from the looks of it) set a snake loose on the large boy. At least, Lily assumed that the black-haired, green-eyed boy was Harry. He certainly looked enough like James.

At the feast that night, the last feast of the year, Lily listened sadly as Dumbledore bid farewell to the students of Hogwarts, and announced the winner of the House Cup: Slytherin. Again. The colors decorating the Great Hall were a dark green and a shimmering silver, and flags of silver snakes on dark green backgrounds fluttered from the enchanted ceiling. No one had managed to beat Slytherin in the House Cup in years, but at least the Quidditch Cup was always a competition; either Slytherin or Gryffindor had won it in the three years that Lily had come to Hogwarts.

Lily looked over at James, knowing he would be in a bad mood after Slytherin had won both the House Cup and—most especially—the Quidditch Cup. She knew he would feel more guilty than disappointed about the loss of the Quidditch Cup; he would think it was because he hadn't scored enough goals or some other silly idea. It wouldn't torment him for long, though; he would only feel guilty until Sirius, Remus, and Peter got him going on another one of their stupid pranks.

Shaking her head and dreading tomorrow, Lily finished her supper and went up to the Gryffindor dormitories to go to sleep.

жжж

The next day, Lily boarded the train with Winola and Amissa. They found an empty compartment and spent a lot of time talking about what they were going to be doing over the summer, promising to write often, and talking about what next year was going to be like.

Suddenly the compartment door slid open, but no one entered. Lily went to look out into the corridor, but no one was out there, either. Everyone was in their own compartments. But then why—?

Winola squeaked, grabbing her left side while looking accusingly at Amissa, who was seated next to her. Amissa shrugged, but then squeaked and grabbed her right side. Both she and Winola looked up at Lily, wondering what was happening, until James Potter pulled off what had to be an Invisibility Cloak and revealed his presence.

"Hey girls!" he greeted.

Lily glared at him and shut the compartment door before demanding, "Don't you have your own friends to torment with your presence?"

James pretended to look hurt, while pulling what looked like a crystal ball out from under the cloak. "And here I was thinking we could fit in one last premonition before going home," he said, his voice filled with mock hurt. "I, for one, found it odd that I wasn't able to see a bloody thing during the Divination exam; but when you and I predict things together, we see all sorts of things."

Lily hesitated. During her own exam she hadn't seen anything in the fog of the crystal ball either. She had expressed her frustration to Professor Ramla, but the weirdly sympathetic teacher had only patted her on the shoulder and told her that it was okay if she couldn't see anything, that no one ever did.

Finally, Lily seemed to come back to herself and asked, pointing at the crystal ball, "Where did you get that?"

James tossed the ball lightly into the air as if it was a Quaffle, a smile playing on his lips. "I nicked it from Professor Ramla's classroom during your exam." James caught the crystal ball and smiled at Lily, turning the orb over and over in his hands. "Does your voice always get so high-pitched when you're frustrated like that?"

Lily thought that if she was a dragon, her breath might come out as fire. "Keep going on like that and you'll find out."

"Oh, well, in that case," James sat between Winola and Amissa, placing the crystal ball on his lap so he could place one arm on each of the disgusted girls' shoulders. Amissa plucked James's arm from her shoulder with two fingers, as if it was radioactive. Winola simply stood and moved to the other side of the train, sitting down with her arms crossed and one leg laid across the other at the knee.

Lily was debating whether to take James up on his offer or throw him out of the compartment. She really wanted to have another prediction, to prove that she hadn't been insane all year, but at the same time she didn't want James Potter here right now. She wanted her last glimpse of James to be of his guilt for losing the Quidditch Cup rather than the arrogant face he was now wearing.

Making a decision, Lily sat down on the floor of the compartment, where James joined her. This was the first time that Winola and Amissa were going to witness one of the premonitions that Lily had told them so much about, so they crawled down to sit in a circle around the crystal ball that James had placed on the floor between him and Lily.

For a moment, nothing happened. And then suddenly there were images, like a movie playing inside the crystal ball:

_"Give it here, Malfoy!" eleven-year-old Harry yelled at a blonde boy who resembled Lucius Malfoy. Harry held out a hand, a hard look on his face as he glared at the malevolent-looking boy. Harry and the blonde, along with a whole bunch of other students, were holding brooms—Lily thought they were at their first flying lesson at Hogwarts, but if that was so, then where was the teacher? _

_The blonde boy—Malfoy—smirked and took off on his broom, threatening to place the "Remembrall" someplace high, where "Longbottom" would have trouble finding it. Harry's face hardened even more while Malfoy spoke, and attempted to mount his own broom. A girl with bushy, brown hair attempted to stop him, telling Harry that he would be breaking about a dozen school rules if he took off after Malfoy, but Harry didn't listen. He mounted his broom and flew unsteadily towards Malfoy, who was hovering confidently about fifteen meters above the ground. Harry yelled at the blonde to give the Remembrall to him, but the blonde smirked. _

_"Have it your way, then," Malfoy sneered, and then threw the tiny glass ball as hard as he could. _

_Harry immediately took off flying after the Remembrall. Lily had lost sight of it already, but somehow Harry could still see it and was following it. He managed to catch it just before it crashed against a tower of the castle, and Harry swerved to a halt just outside a window. He went flying back to his friends, looking slightly amazed that he had actually managed to catch the Remembrall. The rest of the students who were wearing Gryffindor colors ran cheering to where Harry landed, the Remembrall clutched tightly in his fist. _

_Professor McGonagall was suddenly there, demanding that Harry follow her. The cheering stopped, and the bushy-haired girl who'd warned Harry before now gave Lily's son a look that clearly said, "I told you this would happen!" _

_Harry followed Professor McGonagall through the school corridors to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom, where McGonagall asked a Professor Quirrel if she could "borrow wood." Lily—and it looked like Harry, as well—wondered what on earth Professor McGonagall was going to do to her son with "wood", but her worries vanished when a boy introduced as Oliver Wood emerged from the classroom, looking slightly confused. Professor McGonagall explained that Harry, having shown exemplary flying skills when he caught the Remembrall just outside her office window, was a perfect candidate for Gryffindor Seeker. _

_This caused Wood to look curiously at Harry, walking around him and making small comments like, "Light… speedy… yes, he'll do very well…" Finally Wood announced that Harry would need a proper broom, and began naming brands that Lily couldn't recognize. _

_As soon as Professor McGonagall released Harry, he ran and told the bushy-haired girl and a red-haired boy—who looked a lot like Arthur Weasley—about his new position as the youngest Quidditch player in over a century. _

The images ended, and Lily looked smiling back at James, who looking triumphant. Amissa and Winola just looked frustrated down at the crystal ball.

"Our son is going to be a Seeker!" James yelled, a gigantic grin lighting his face.

"Our son is going to be in Gryffindor!" shouted a happy Lily.

"Our son is going to play Quidditch!"

"Our son is going to defend fairness and justice!"

"Our son is going to be the youngest Quidditch player in over a century!"

"Our son is going to be a loyal friend!"

"Our son is going to be a fantastic flyer!"

"_Can't you think of anything but Quidditch?_"

Suddenly Lily found herself in James's crushing embrace. Not knowing quite where that action had come from, Lily sat for a moment and allowed James to hug her for just a moment longer before yanking herself away to slap him angrily.

"Don't you _ever_ touch me again, Potter!" she screeched at him, standing to slide the compartment door open. She pointed out into the empty corridor and stood, gesturing for him to leave.

Sighing, James stood and threw the Invisibility Cloak over himself. A few moments passed in silence.

"_James…_" Lily growled. "I know you're still in here!"

"Geez!" James's voice seemed to float from where he had been standing in the center of the compartment. "How did you know I hadn't left yet?" he asked, pulling the hood off so his head seemed to float on its own.

Lily pointed to the floor, where the crystal ball was still sitting. "You left that."

James opened his mouth as if to say, "Ah…" and bent to retrieve the crystal ball. He held the orb under the cloak and drew the hood up once again.

A few moments later Lily demanded, "James, leave _now._"

"How did you know this time?"

"Because I know you!"

"Fine!"

This time Lily heard stomping that began in the center of the compartment and progressed out the door and down the corridor. Satisfied that James had finally left, Lily shut the compartment door and sat down on one of the chairs. Amissa and Winola sat on either side, both of them giving Lily confused looks.

"What just happened there?" they asked at the same time. All three girls laughed for a few moments before Amissa continued, "You two seemed so excited about something, going all 'our son' this and 'our son' that."

Lily looked at each of her friends. "Didn't you see… in the crystal ball… Harry…?"

Winola and Amissa shook their heads.

"Didn't you see any… images… in the crystal ball?" Lily asked, confused. When both of her friends shook their heads _again_, Lily got frustrated. "But me and James _both_ saw—Harry! He became—or, rather, will become—the youngest Quidditch player in over a century!"

"Yeah, we got that much from Potter," Winola said, rolling her eyes. "But we didn't see anything."

Lily looked helplessly from one friend to the other. Maybe she was going insane… maybe she and Potter were both going insane from the same type of insanity, having the same visions…

_Maybe we're not insane,_ a small voice in her head whispered. _Maybe we're not insane, and Amissa and Winola can't see the premonitions because they're not about them…_

Lily shook her head. She had never heard of a premonition that only the people it applied to could see. Besides: technically, the premonition didn't apply to either her or James, since it was all about Harry. Or maybe it did, since Harry was going to be their son.

Lily shook her head again. She had to stop referring to this boy as "our son"…


	6. truth or dare

James wandered down the train under the cover of his Invisibility Cloak, a gift his parents had given him for his tenth birthday. He held in his hands the crystal ball he'd stolen at the end of last year and kept hidden from his parents all throughout the summer. As soon as he'd boarded the train, James had stowed his trunk in his compartment with Remus, Sirius, and Peter, and then set off to find Lily, hoping to talk her into seeing the first premonition of the year on the train before actually reaching the school for their fourth year at Hogwarts.

When he reached Lily's compartment—he could hear her musical laugh through the door—he found the door firmly shut. James groaned; he had been planning on sneaking in to spy on Lily for a while, but it wasn't going to work if he couldn't get in the compartment without their suspecting his presence.

His problem was solved when a girl—James thought this one was Winola, but he had never bothered to sort out which of Lily's friends was which—exited the train's restroom a few doors away from the compartment. James flattened himself against the wall so that the girl could pass without feeling him, but when she slid the compartment door open he jammed his foot in front of it so she couldn't close it behind her.

The girl jerked at the door twice, confused, and went to heave all her weight into the effort of shutting the door. Before she could, James thrust himself past her, succeeding in making it into the compartment undetected. The girl went flying when the door slid shut easily without James's foot to block it, but she landed safely in the bench seat Lily was occupying.

"What's going on, Amissa?" Lily asked, telling James he'd gotten the name of the girl wrong.

Amissa righted herself and sat next to the redhead. "The stupid door got stuck," she grumbled, rubbing an elbow she had probably banged on the floor. "Anyway, what did Winola choose while I was gone?"

Lily grinned evilly. "She chose dare. What should we make her do?"

James realized with some delight that he'd walked in on a game of Truth or Dare. _This could get very interesting,_ he thought to himself, making sure the crystal ball was held tightly in one hand. James watched Lily and Amissa think of a dare for Winola.

"Doesn't she have a crush on that one guy…?" Amissa thought out loud.

Lily nodded but said decisively, "No, nothing about love. That's too clichéd. We need something original…" Lily thought a bit more but said when she saw Amissa's face, "No, we are not sending her streaking down the Hogwarts Express!" The two girls fell into a fit of laughter. "I know!" Lily suddenly exclaimed. She got up and, standing on the bench seat, reached into her trunk. A few moments later she withdrew a pair of scissors. "Your dare is that you have to let me and Amissa give you a haircut, and you can't look in a mirror of any kind for the next 24 hours."

James nearly scoffed at that idea. It was so amateur! How could these girls ever think a haircut would make a good dare?

Of course, James had underestimated Lily and Amissa. He had forgotten that girls' hair tends to be longer than guys', so more can be chopped off. Ribbons can be added, glitter, Amissa even knew a spell that changed exact strands of hair different colors. By the time Lily and Amissa had finished with Winola, the hair that had started out as elbow-length and midnight black had been turned different shades of neon yellow; the lengths were uneven; black glitter added to the shock of the color; and magenta ribbons had been used to give Winola pigtails. As James watched the process, he began to wonder why he and the Marauders had never thought of giving people haircuts…

The next to go was Amissa, who wisely chose Truth. Winola immediately asked Amissa if her hair looked good; Amissa just laughed, falling out of her seat to roll in laughter on the floor.

Now it was Lily's turn. "Truth or Dare?" the two friends chorused, leaning in for Lily's decision.

Lily seemed hesitant. James could see why; he didn't want either of those girls touching Lily's beautiful red hair, either. On the other hand, Lily was obviously worried that if she chose Truth, she might be forced to admit something she didn't want to. Hair… truth… hair… honesty… hair… James could tell Lily was deciding which would be better.

Finally: "Truth."

And Amissa was ready with a question, looking as if she had been born to ask this question: "Do you have a crush on James Potter?"

Now James nearly broke out in laughter. Lily? Like him? No way! She'd turned him down way too many times! There was no way she could like him like that! It was a known fact! It's why James worked so hard to change that fact; he knew that if he didn't continue to make an effort, Lily would never like him. And if the way Lily had kicked him out of her compartment at the end of last year, James knew Lily did _not_ have a crush on him.

"Maybe a small one," Lily admitted in a tiny voice.

_Thump._ The crystal ball had dropped from James's grasp and was now rolling across the floor. "Crap!" James whispered, giving himself away. Or maybe not… the girls looked too focused in on the crystal ball; maybe they hadn't heard his whisper?

The three girls stood, still looking down at the crystal ball rolling around on the floor. James took the opportunity to back up completely against the compartment door, flattening himself as much as possible. He watched the three girls gaze warily around the room, occasionally doing something with their hands.

Lily took a step closer, keeping her hands out in front of her. Another step, and her fingertips would graze his chest. On her next step, though, she turned around midway, so that her back was facing him. James held his breath, knowing that Lily was close enough to feel even the tiniest disturbance. He made sure none of his limbs were shaking, although his right foot had somehow gone to sleep. Finally, though, James had to breathe. And that one breath moved several strands of Lily's hair, causing her to panic.

Before James knew what was happening, Lily had turned and kneed him someplace no guy should ever be kneed.

жжж

"JAMES POTTER WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?" Lily screeched at the floating, grimacing head in front of her. Had he heard her answer to the Truth question?

James glared up at Lily, his head so low to the ground that Lily could tell he was bent over double. "Now," he breathed, "was that any way to treat the guy you have a crush on?"

Lily gasped and slapped the floating head of James Potter. "How DARE you sneak in here and spy on us like that?" she demanded angrily, watching James writhe in pain. "What were you doing in here in the first place?"

James painfully nodded towards the glass orb that was still spinning in the middle of the room. "Premonition," he muttered.

Lily sighed and rolled her eyes, but went over to retrieve the crystal ball. "If we do this, will you promise to forget everything you've heard here today?"

"Aw, do I have to?"

Lily dropped the crystal ball with a loud _thump!_, apparently right onto James's foot when he cried out in more pain. "Then take your stolen ball and get out."

"Fine!" James muttered. "I'll forget… I promise!"

Lily knew James would never forget what had happened here in the compartment, but she was just as eager for a premonition as he was. She picked up the crystal ball and, placing it between her and James, sat down. Winola and Amissa sat in the bench seats, giving each other knowing looks. Lily made a mental note to exact revenge on them later. Right now, though, Lily wanted to see more of Harry's life.

_Harry and his friends, Ron and Hermione, seemed to be making their way through a series of obstacles. First there was a gigantic plant—Devil's Snare, Lily recognized—that only stopped trapping Harry and Ron in its vines when Hermione finally managed to remember that she was indeed a witch and could conjure fire at will. Another task involved Harry flying around a room on an old broomstick, trying to find the flying key to fit a keyhole in a door that lead to whatever the three friends were trying to get to. In another room the friends had to play wizard's chess, but Ron was knocked out by the queen in this round; Harry and Hermione had to go on by themselves. Later Hermione would have to leave as well, because a room full of potions and fire would only admit one person through to the other side—and into the final room. In this final room is where Harry met a pale man with a purple turban, which was removed to reveal the face of the Dark Lord. Lily gasped when she saw this face, one that she knew presently had its own body instead of sharing one with what was apparently a teacher at Hogwarts. Lily wondered what kind of headmaster would hire such a creature that was willing to allow the most evil man in memory to live on the back of his head. _

_There was a mirror that drew Lily's attention. She didn't really listen to what was going on between Harry and "Professor Quirrel"; instead she watched the mirror. Of course, she had no reflection since she was not really there. But at one point her image did appear in the mirror. _

_"Together," the Dark Lord promised, bringing up the image of an older Lily and James, "we can bring them back!"_

_Lily saw what He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was trying to do. Dragging her attention away from the mirror, Lily yelled at Harry, "No! Don't listen to him! He can't bring us back! No one and nothing can bring people back from the dead! Don't listen to him, Harry! No!" _

Lily, however, did not get to find out what Harry decided—Amissa and Winola had shaken her out of her reverie, dragged her out of the premonition. "WHY IN MERLIN'S NAME DID YOU DO THAT?" she yelled at them, causing the two friends to shrink back in their seats.

"You were screaming, Lily," Amissa said. "So was James, but we didn't exactly think to stop him."

Lily noticed that James was still looking at the crystal ball, with a happy expression on his face. What could he possibly be seeing that could make him so happy?


	7. pride and power

_James watched the boy who was to be his son beat down the de-turbaned man, the one with the spirit of the most evil wizard occupying the bald space on the back of his head. While he watched Harry defeat the Death Eater, James felt two emotions begin to surface in the pit of his stomach:_

_The first emotion was pride. James could not believe that his son was going to give up the chance to see his parents again just to defeat You-Know-Who. Given, that chance was a lie, but it was one that most people would have readily accepted and agreed to. _

_The second emotion that James felt was awe. Harry was defeating the Death Eater just by coming into physical contact with him! James knew of no other wizards who were able to do this. That must mean that Harry—his son!—was going to be born with extraordinary powers, or an extraordinary destiny, or maybe even both! _

_But at the last second—just when James thought Harry had defeated You-Know-Who and his host body—the spirit of the evil wizard rose up in a menacing swirl of mist. Harry saw this true form of the Dark Lord and looked terrified, but stood tall in the face of the danger—although James was not entirely sure if this was out of bravery or shock. _

_The mist congealed into a cloud before charging at Harry, causing the boy to scream in fear and fall backwards as the spirit passed through him. James watched his son pass out from fear and exhaustion, never feeling more proud of anyone than he felt at this moment…_

"OW!" The smile was wiped off of James's face when something toppled onto his head, then fell into his lap: a copy of _Hogwarts, A History_. "What was that for?" he asked Lily angrily, rubbing the spot where the book had hit him.

Lily shrugged. "What were you so happy about?" she asked, pointing at the crystal ball.

James looked confused, and started flipping through random pages of the book in his lap. "You saw it for yourself," he said lightly, realizing that this was the fourth time Lily had physically hurt him in the past hour. "Isn't that enough to make _you_ happy? Or are you just so emotionally lacking that you don't care about what our son is going to do at the age of _eleven_?"

Lily pointed to her friends and sighed, "They decided to drag me out of the premonition. So what happened while I was out?"

"Where were you yanked out?"

"Harry had just been offered a position with You-Know-Who," Lily answered, glaring at her friends. "You guys couldn't have picked a worse time to yank me out, could you?" she accused.

Amissa raised her hands in surrender. "I'm sorry," she began sarcastically. "I'm sorry me and Winola can't see your visions. I'm sorry we had no clue you two were at the climax of the premonition. I'm sorry we helped when we heard a friend screaming."

Lily sighed in frustration this time, falling back into an available seat. "I didn't mean it like _that_." Then Lily leaned forward in her seat to continue interrogating James. "So what happened after that?"

James grinned evilly. "Harry joined You-Know-Who, but was killed when he finally realized that the promise of bringing us back from the dead was a lie." James was having fun with this, but quit when he saw the glare on Lily's face. Rolling his eyes, James told the true story: "Harry refused, of course. He tried to escape, but You-Know-Who ordered the teacher to restrain him. There was a fight—you should have seen it Lily!" James leaned back to lie on the floor, smiling up at the ceiling as the immense feeling of pride returned. "Harry fought, but without spells or incantations of any kind! All he did was touch the guy, and he started _burning_ to death! By the time Harry was done with him, all that was left of him was a big pile of ashes and dust! Oh, and then there was this giant thing of mist—You-Know-Who's spirit, since its host had been killed—that came out and attacked Harry!"

Lily stared at James for a long second, and then turned to yell furiously at her friends, "_Why did you have to go and bring me back? Did you hear what my son is going to do? He's going to fight You-Know-Who! AND YOU GUYS RUINED WHAT WAS POSSIBLY THE ONLY CHANCE I WILL EVER HAVE OF SEEING THAT!_"

"That's right…" Winola remembered, nodding her head slightly. "Because you guys die early, don't you?"

"_YES!_"

"Then…" Winola's voice suddenly turned hard. "WHY WORRY ABOUT IT IF YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LIVE THROUGH IT ANYWAY?"

The compartment was left in a stunned silence, until James stood and wiped his hands on his robes. "Well, I'll just be going then," he said lightly, picking up the crystal ball as he began backing out of the room. "I'll leave you girls to have your little catfight."

"_You're not going anywhere, Potter!_"

James's eyebrows rose. "Are you _threatening_ me, Lily?" he asked playfully.

Lily's eyes shrank into slits. "Heck yes."

The strange Muggle phrase made James laugh, and he stopped moving towards the door. "Okay, then," James assented, taking everyone by surprise. "I guess I could stick around for a few more rounds of Truth or Dare…"

"_Out, Potter!_"

"Geez, Lily, make up your mind!"

Lily came and actually shoved James out the door of the compartment. "Go find your own friends!" she yelled, slamming the compartment door in James's face.

James debated knocking on the door to ask for his Invisibility Cloak, which he had taken off when Lily had agreed to look into the crystal ball with him, but decided against it. One major argument was enough for today, he thought as he began making his way towards his own compartment.

"James," James stopped short, not quite believing what he was hearing: was Lily calling him by his _first name_? In a _seductive_ tone? "Wait, James…"

James turned around nervously, not knowing what prank Lily was trying to pull. _But Lily never pulls pranks,_ James remembered. _So what is she up to now?_ "Ye—," James began before his voice cracked anxiously, noticing that Lily was walking towards him in slow, sinuous steps. "Yes?"

Lily, looking up at James through her eyelashes, said softly, "I just wanted to say…"

James gulped. Lily was less than a foot away from him now. "What?" he asked, not sure if this was a dare that Lily's friends had put her up to.

Lily licked her lips, and James's eyes were drawn there. "I just wanted to say… _Obliviate!_"

жжж

Lily watched James's stunned face transform into an expression of confusion and knew that her Memory Charm had worked; James would never remember hearing the game of Truth or Dare. Neither would he remember the premonition, but Lily thought that it was a fair price to pay in exchange for the preservation of her pride.

Lily lowered the wand she had been hiding behind her back and took a step away from James, asking in a falsely irritated voice, "I said, what do you want, Potter?" Lily arranged her face into an expression of annoyance, trying hard to tune out the giggles that Amissa and Winola were not bothering to muffle in the compartment.

James looked confusedly from Lily to the crystal ball, and then back up again. "I don't… I'm not… I guess… I guess I wanted to try to have a premonition." James shrugged, his eyebrows furrowed.

Hiding her amusement, Lily made herself look thoughtful—which wasn't hard to do, since she really was trying to decide whether or not it would actually be worth it to go through another premonition with James. She felt guilty for everything she had done to James in the past hour alone: kneeing him somewhere unpleasant, slapping him, dropping a crystal ball on his foot, chucking a book at his head, yelling at him, threatening him, shoving him, and finally obliterating his memory of the whole thing. Lily shuddered when she thought of all the bad karma she must be raking up.

Lily ended her friends' giggles when she told James in a gentle voice, "Sure. Your compartment or mine?"

* * *

_Author's Note: I would like to offer a hearty laugh to all of the people who actually thought I would allow James the satisfaction of knowing Lily likes him. HA!_

_I would also like to thank everyone for your patience. I know I haven't been a regular updater, but I hope to be more regular soon, since some of my other fanfictions are getting closer to ending. Right now I have three other fanfictions that I am trying to keep up with (another one, not included in the three, is a oneshot that I HAD to write just because the idea was so hilarious!) and I am also trying to write a completely separate story that I want to get published into a book when I'm done with it, and then there's homework and studying and such... especially with finals coming up and SAT's in January and just general stress. So thank you so much for sticking with me!_


	8. get a clue

_This is a huge mistake_, Lily thought. Nevertheless, she hoisted a large grin onto her face as James led her to his compartment, where Sirius, Remus, and Peter were laughing at a joke one of them had just made. As soon as Lily entered the room, though, all laughter ended and the three boys turned to stare at their visitor. _I knew I had racked up some bad karma_, Lily thought, the smile still plastered onto her face.

Sirius was the one to finally break the silence. "Wanna hear a joke?" he asked, a smile playing on his lips. "Women's rights!"

The smile remained on Lily's face, but her eyes hardened considerably. "_Men_struation," she began in retaliation. "_Men_opause. Have you ever noticed how all of women's problems start with men?"

Each boy, all having gone considerably redder, looked anywhere but at Lily.

Lily smiled, a real grin warming the rest of her face. _I love how boys, no matter how macho they act, never REALLY want to discuss this sort of thing._ She suddenly felt more comfortable, and bounced down on the seat as if this had been her compartment the whole time. Next to her, Peter scooted farther down the seat to press himself against the window, as far away from Lily as possible. _This might not be so bad after all._

"So where have you been, James?" Remus finally asked, still avoiding looking at Lily. "You've been gone for almost half an hour."

James looked confusedly down at Remus, taking the seat next to his friend and across from Lily. "But I just left!"

Lily coughed, and kept coughing. Frantically she tried to come up with a reason for James's prolonged absence, even though he didn't remember anything after leaving the compartment with his friends. Rolling her eyes at her own stupidity, Lily wished she had also performed a memory replacement charm instead—if she knew how to do one.

James asked Lily if she was okay, and she stopped coughing. Right then she came up with a reason why James wouldn't remember anything after leaving his friends:

"Are you sure you didn't pass by Severus?" she accused, her green eyes flashing. Lily wished there was a way to do this without starting an argument, but she wasn't going to admit to James that she had erased his memory; he would realize that she had erased something she wanted to keep secret, and would try to find out what it was. "Maybe you two got into a duel or something before you came looking for me with that blank look in your eyes."

"Blank look?" Remus asked, curious. He looked swiftly over at James, who was famous for his mischievous expressions. Sure enough, James's face was still slightly confused, as if he had misplaced something that he really wanted to find.

Sirius looked disappointedly at his best friend. "Aw, you tackled him without us, Prongs? That's no fun!"

James shook his head quickly. "I didn't touch him!" he assured Lily emphatically.

Lily gestured at the wand that was sticking out of James's back pocket. "You wouldn't exactly have to, with that thing." She made a gesture that, when accompanied by the correct thought and emphasis, would send someone flying into the air by their ankle.

James continued to shake his head, but it was slower now. "I haven't messed with Snape since last year… at least, I _think_ I haven't messed with him…" James looked questioningly at his friends. "Did we do anything to him today?"

Each of the Marauders quickly assured James that none of them had so much as seen Snape since the end of last year.

"Although I wouldn't put it past Snivellus to modify your memory behind your back," Sirius pointed out. "It's something he might do. He probably thinks it's some great joke, watching someone walk around confused."

"Although we did give him those cupcakes with the memory charms baked inside at the beginning of second year," Remus pointed out. "But that's beside the point. What was James doing for the rest of the fifteen minutes?"

Lily, uncomfortable with the way Remus was looked suspiciously at her, smiled up at James. "I thought we were just going to have a premonition, not play Clue," she pointed out.

"_What?_" All four boys didn't know what Clue was, and Lily had to spend the next ten minutes explaining the game to them.

"But why would they use a candlestick?" Peter wanted to know. "Couldn't they just use the Killing Curse or something?"

Lily nearly smacked the idiot. "It's a _Muggle_ game," she reminded him.

"But why a candlestick?"

"I don't know! Weapon of opportunity, maybe?"

"But there must have been more than just candlesticks in that room."

"What do you even care, Pettigrew? We're not even playing the game!"

Peter looked embarrassed, and looked down at his shoes. "I just think that the candlestick is a bad choice of weapon, that's all," he muttered softly.

Shaking her head, Lily lowered herself onto the floor and sat with her legs crossed. "Are we going to predict anything or not, Potter?"

James looked up quickly, as if he had been pulled out of a reverie. "Sorry," he apologized, sinking himself onto the floor across from Lily. "I just had a severe case of déjà vu." James placed the crystal ball between him and Lily.

Ignoring the increased intensity of suspicion in the way Remus was looking at her, Lily looked into the swirling mist inside the crystal ball.

_"Serpensortia!" A snake erupted from the end of a wand used by a blonde boy whom Harry had apparently been dueling against. The snake was a deep green color, with a hood that marked it as a king cobra. _

_For a moment, Harry stood there, stunned. Then a much older version of Snape stepped forward, announcing his intentions to get rid of the serpent in a smug voice that slid into Lily's ears like oil. Before Snape could do anything, though, a cocky-looking teacher stepped forth and waved his wand, sending the already angry snake flying into the air with a loud BANG! The snake landed hard on the floor of the Great Hall, hissing madly. It went for a boy wearing Hufflepuff robes, fangs bared to strike. _

_Another hissing sound caused the snake to pause just before it sank its sharp teeth into the Hufflepuff's flesh—was there another snake in the room, the first one's mate, maybe? No! It was Harry! Harry was hissing at the snake as if he was talking to it like he would to any witch or wizard! But that would mean that Harry knew—_

"Parsletongue," Lily finished the thought aloud, coming back to reality to see James looking at her with a mixture of sadness and anger on his face. "Our son is going to be a Parslemouth."

James shook his head, picking up the crystal ball angrily. "No he's not," he insisted, hefting the glass orb up over his head like a basketball player about to make a shot from the foul line as he faced the window of the compartment. "Our son is not going to _ever_ use _any_ dark magic. _Ever!_" With that, James threw the stolen crystal ball through the window with a loud _CRASH!_ Remus quickly repaired the window with a hurried flick of his wand and a quiet "_Reparo!_"

Lily stared at James, stunned. He was just as passionate about dark magic as Lily was about hazing! Maybe that was why he always went after Snape… although that still didn't make his actions any better than the greasy-haired Slytherin's.

James looked back down at Lily, panting. "Maybe we were wrong all this time," he suggested, ruffling his hair distractedly with one hand. "Maybe these aren't premonitions… maybe they're just some trick of the light, that makes it look like something in the mist. Professor Ramla said herself that not many people can actually have visions when it comes to Divination…"

"It's not a trick of the light, James," Lily said, surprised by her words. "A trick of the light couldn't have caused us both to see—and _hear!_—the exact same things. And it's only when we're together! I didn't see anything when I took the Divination exam last year!"

"Then maybe it's hormones or something!" James retracted his statement when he saw the expression on Lily's face. "I don't know what to think! All I know is that _my_ son would _never_ use dark magic!"

Lily shrugged. "Maybe he's not your son."

James scoffed at this. "You even said yourself how much he looked like me!"

"There are many spells that can change a wizard's appearance, James. For all we know, Harry could even have been a Harriet when he started out, but we wanted a boy so we gave him a potion to make him a… him."

James laughed. "Lily, Harry would have had to be at least twelve in that last vision. By that age, any daughter of _yours_ would have started to…"

"Eyes up here, Potter."

James looked back up, looking affronted. "I wasn't looking there!" he insisted.

"Sure you weren't." Lily rolled her eyes, wishing she'd changed into her bulky school robes. Suddenly uncomfortable, she crossed her arms in front of her.

"No, I really wasn't looking there, Evans! I was just thinking—."

"Well that's a new one for you, then, Potter."

James actually looked slightly disappointed with Lily's interjection. He recovered quickly, continuing his sentence where he'd been interrupted. "—that maybe that wasn't even Harry using Parsletongue. Like you said: there are many spells and potions that can change a wizard's appearance. What if that was actually some Slytherin using Polyjuice Potion to look like Harry?"

Lily shook her head, a doubtful expression on her face. "I don't think the crystal ball can be fooled by Polyjuice Potion, Potter. I think that really was Harry, and I think he really is going to be a Parslemouth."

James cursed, and Lily bit back the urge to hit him with something. She'd been mean enough to James for one day, she thought.

Lily left the compartment, announcing her intention to return to her own friends. James hardly noticed her departure, sitting by the window with a pensive look on his face; the other three Marauders looked relieved. Rolling her eyes, Lily made her way back to her compartment, where she found Winola laughing at absolutely nothing.

"What's going on?" she asked, wanting to know what was so funny that Winola would laugh all by herself.

Suddenly, Amissa appeared from under a silvery, fluid cloak, a wide grin on her face. "Look what Potter left behind!" Amissa displayed the Invisibility Cloak, spreading the fabric over her arms to watch its almost liquid movement.

"Give me that!" Lily snatched the cloak from Amissa, but was mesmerized by the feel of the fabric on her bare arms. Lily smiled, her original plan of returning the property to its owner flying out of her head like little yellow birds on a bright sunny day. _Maybe it will do James Potter some good to have someone pulling pranks on him, for a change…_

жжж

James banged his head against the repaired window yet again, wondering what had happened in those forgotten fifteen minutes that had caused his blossoming friendship with Lily to wilt.

Lily hadn't called James any bad names since the beginning of last year, but for some reason she was now accusing him yet again of terrorizing Snape, of not thinking, of being witless, and even of being _perverted!_ James wasn't that kind of guy. He wanted female attention, but he didn't want _that_ kind of attention! If he wanted _that_ kind of attention, there was a number of girls much prettier than Lily Evans.

But it was Lily Evans who mattered most to James. Only she ever gave him that feeling—that his heart was beating a million times too fast; that his mouth was going to fall off if it didn't spread into a grin; that anything, even just getting a date with her, was not only possible, but probable. James loved that feeling that he got around Lily, and hated that Lily had thought—even for just a second—that he had been interested in something much more… _disgusting._

James went to bang his head against the glass again, but this time Remus grabbed the hair on the back of his head and threatened to put him _through_ the window if he didn't stop. James smiled, knowing Moony would never actually follow through with his threat; it was simply "that time of the month", a time that always had Moony on edge.

But there was something more to Remus's look this time. There was concern, and something a little like _sympathy_.

жжж

Lily jumped when a hand tapped her shoulder from behind, but turned to see Remus walking behind her. "Hey," she greeted, not sure what he would want with her. Lily looked around for any of the other Marauders, but she couldn't see any of them.

"Let's get our own carriage, shall we?" Lupin gestured to the last carriage in the long line.

Lily nodded, still unsure about Lupin's intentions. Still, she told Amissa and Winola that she and Remus would be riding together—alone—this time. This caused the two girls to laugh hysterically, but they waved Lily off anyway.

Once they were inside the self-driving carriage from Hogsmeade to Hogwarts, Lupin shut the door with a snap and turned to look curiously at Lily.

"What is it that you don't want James to remember?" he asked intently. "Why did you wipe his memory?"

Lily felt her face pale. "What makes you think I did that?" she asked slowly.

Remus listed the reasons: James had gone off purposefully seeking Lily out, and wouldn't have taken a detour even for Snape; the compartment doors are glass, so it would not have been difficult for James to locate Lily on the train; James would not naturally forget _any_ encounter with Lily; Lily was the one who had first brought up the possibility of James encountering Snape on his way to find Lily; Lily had had an adverse reaction when the original question of what James had done with his time had been introduced.

Lily gulped. She didn't want to tell one of James's best friends that the reason why she'd wiped James's memory was because she didn't want him to remember the Truth or Dare question that had led to her admittance of her crush on James Potter. Not that she thought Remus was the type to go blabbing on her; he seemed to be the most sensible of the Marauders. It was just… it was one thing to tell your friends about a crush, and another thing to tell your crush's friend about it.

Lily licked her lips, wrapped her arms around her waist, and tapped her toes against the floor of the carriage. This movement seemed to cause the carriage to take off, but the sudden motion did not seem to dissuade Remus from getting his answer.

"James found out—," Lily stopped herself, and started over. "Potter found out that…" Lily had no clue what to say! There was no way she was going to tell Remus that she had a crush on _James…_ "Potter found out that I have a crush on Sirius."

Remus's head jerked back. Obviously he hadn't been expecting _that_ answer!

"When he found out," Lily continued with the lie, "he took it badly. I think he really does like me, you know." _Although it doesn't take a member of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad to figure that one out,_ Lily added in her thoughts. "So I just kind of wiped away the memory, to calm him down."

Remus nodded, apparently buying Lily's lie. "I can understand that," he murmured. Then he seemed to focus in more on Lily, as if they were two good friends. "Would you like for me to talk to Sirius for you?" he offered.

Lily felt her face pale even more than she thought it ever could. If Remus talked to Sirius about her "liking" him, then Sirius would begin to get cocky around her, which would be unbearable. Not only that, but he would tell James—those two were closer than brothers!—who would then go on feeling betrayed and feeling bad for himself. On the other hand…

If Lily started dating Sirius, it would give her an excuse to be closer to James. And maybe it would give her and James more opportunity for form an actual friendship, as the girlfriend of his best friend. Lily was certain that James would accept the relationship… after a long time of sulking, maybe, but he would still come to accept it eventually. Right now the only times Lily and James ever hung out as friends were during Divination classes, and occasionally at lunch.

Lily looked pleadingly up at Remus. "Would you?"

* * *

_Author's Note: Okay, I know this isn't exactly my best chapter ever, but the internet is down at my house so I have to post my fanfictions while I am at my job (I work during all of the school breaks) so I don't get all that much time. And then there's the stress that I might've mentioned before (I know I've mentioned it in other chapters and I know it sounds whiney to keep repeating it, but my life has had more than just the usual stress lately so please just bear with me!) so I am having a bit of a writer's block but I have continued to write anywayz... so yeah. Anywho, this isn't my best chapter but I hope you all forgive me for it and continue reading!_


	9. friendly fire

_Yes, I have finally posted something! I'm sorry I've kept you all waiting for so long, especially since this is my most popular fanfiction, and I promise I will try harder to write more! I won't bother with excuses I've already given..._

_I'm sorry this chapter is so rushed. I think it goes through four weeks... And most of it is about Lily and James rather than Harry, so I'm sorry about that too. _

_For those of you who are upset because Lily and James get together in this chapter, DO NOT BITE MY HEAD OFF! I have a plan so that it all works out with the books, and I figured it out especially for those of you anal enough to want this to fit in perfectly with the books despite this being a FANFICTION. _

_I'm running out of ideas! I'm trying to mix up which types of Divination Lily and James use each time, but it's very difficult to do. I had to think about what I was going to do for this chapter, and now I'm all out. So if you could please review and let me know: A) what you think about this chapter and the fic in general, and B) any types of Divination that I have missed. This is what I have written about so far:_

_Tea leaves, palm reading, crystal balls, and dream diaries (this chapter). I'm going to try to fit the whole "murcury is in the house of saturn" stuff in eventually, but I don't know what that's called and I don't know anything about that so I don't know how I will do it. But please let me know what I am missing, or if you practice Wicca you can tell me about stuff Harry Potter doesn't cover and I might incorporate that (I am Christian, so I don't know any of that stuff (writing that, I feel so ignorant...))_

_Anywho, please review and enjoy! I personally like the dream that Lily and James have together because it will lead to some conflict in the future, but you go ahead and read and tell me what you think. _

* * *

Gryffindor lost the first Quidditch game of the season because the team's star Chaser would pause to glare either at the announcer's booth where Lilt sat, or—more often—into the Gryffindor stands where Sirius was seated. When Lily had asked Remus to talk to Sirius for her, she had not thought of the possibility of a fight between the two best friends. Now the Marauders were divided: Sirius and Lupin, who were supportive of the new relationship between Sirius and Lily; James, who refused to talk to Sirius, yet acted insanely happy whenever Lily was anywhere nearby; and Peter, who was trying to remain neutral in the argument.

James didn't even sit with Sirius at lunch anymore. Now he gathered Frank Longbottom and the rest of the Quidditch team around him, always as far away from Sirius as he could get. There was even a rumor that James wouldn't even sleep in the boys' dormitories with Sirius in the same room, since none of the other boys had seen James actually sleep in the dormitory since Sirius and Lily had started dating.

The experience of dating Sirius was as unpleasant to Lily as the knowledge of it was to James. Not that Sirius was a bad boyfriend, Lily told herself constantly. He was actually a very good boyfriend. He'd seemed to understand that Lily wanted a slow relationship, and he respected that. So far they had done nothing more than hold hands, and this was the end of the third week of their relationship.

Any yet every week, James greeted Lily in Divination with the same, insanely happy smile. That smile drove Lily crazy, because she knew that James was just plastering it on his face to cover up his real feelings.

"How are you today, Evans?" James greeted her one day, the smile fixed firmly on his face. Sirius rolled his eyes before taking his place with Peter, leaving Lily alone with James.

"I'm fine," replied Lily, not looking at James while she sat and balanced her bag against a leg of her chair. "You?"

"I could be better."

Still avoiding looking at James, Lily looked down at the table to see what they were doing today: two big journals labeled "DREAM DIARY" lay on the table between them.

Professor Ramla announced that she had a migraine, so she would just let the groups talk about the dreams they'd had last night. "Interpret the dreams' contents with the chart on page 27. I'll be over here attempting to stew a proper migraine potion."

For the first time that day, Lily looked up at James. He was still wearing that smile! Why was he angry with her? It's not like they had been dating or anything!

"OK," began Lily, breaking the uncomfortable silence that had started to grow between them. "Well, last night I had a dream about a family of dolls. They were going to have a baby, so I needed to find this thing that would allow me to decorate the nursery. When I found it, it turned out to be a playground. I shot an arrow at the playground out of my foot, and the mommy doll was happy. Then I woke up. Do you think there's any symbolism for my life or Harry's in that ?"

When Lily mentioned Harry's name, James's eyes flickered and his smile faltered. He turned in his chair to glare at Sirius, who was telling Peter about his recurring dream: dementors chasing him, pulling down their hoods to kiss him until finally a silver stag appeared to save him. When Sirius started talking about the stag, he turned to look at James. The tension in the room suddenly multiplied.

Lily bent over her book, commenting in a nervous voice, "Well, the book says that dolls symbolize untruth, and anything relating to children symbolizes innocence. Any sort of weapon obviously shows violence or aggression. But from what we've seen so far, I don't think Harry is going to have violent tendencies against innocence, and I'm not entirely sure he'll make a good liar based on all the trouble he gets himself into…"

James wasn't paying attention. He and Sirius were still glaring at each other, despite Peter's attempts to break them apart with a description of his own dream: Sirius was trying to kill him after he had kidnapped a boy.

_Those boys have some morbid dreams,_ Lily thought to herself. _Dementors, friends turning traitor and trying to kill you, and kidnapping. Sounds like some lovely dreams to me…_

Out of the corner of her eye, Lily saw Professor Ramla suddenly sprout bunny ears. The professor cursed loudly and told the class to behave while she went to the hospital wing to reverse the potion's effect, and to get a proper migraine cure from someone competent in potion-making.

As soon as Professor Ramla's head disappeared down the ladder, James jumped from his seat and snarled, "Traitor!"

Sirius looked surprised. He responded coolly, "Yeah, that's exactly what my family is calling me too: a blood traitor."

"Shut up, Black!"

Sirius rose from his chair, his expression now angry. "So it's 'Black' now, is it?"

"What else would I call the man who dated the girl I've liked for years?"

"Maybe you haven't noticed, James, but Lily hasn't liked you!"

Lily felt her face redden. This whole thing was her fault! She had broken apart one of the truest friendships in Hogwarts just so she could keep the secret of her crush.

"It doesn't matter whether Lily likes me now or not!" James bellowed, stunning Lily with the use of her first name. "I told you about the visions we've have; you _know_ we are going to end up together, but you _still_ dated her!"

"Because _she_ liked _me_, James! I wouldn't have dated her otherwise!"

Lily was horribly aware that everyone in the Divination class was listening avidly to the argument, taking it all in and probably wondering what was going on. It wasn't exactly old news that Lily Evans was dating James Potter's best friend, even though James had had a crush on Lily since anyone knew James; then again, it wasn't the hottest gossip either. Most people had only been interested to see whether the friendship between James Potter and Sirius Black was going to survive an argument over a girl.

"Every girl in the _school_ likes you, Black," James yelled, "but you don't go out with all of _them!_"

"BECAUSE I WAS DOING THIS FOR _YOU!_" Sirius shocked James into silence with his words. He shocked Lily pretty badly, as well. "I figured that if she dated _me_, I could talk her around into dating _you_. But you know what I discovered? She never even liked me! She never wanted to date me!"

All of the color that had previously flooded Lily's face now drained out of it, leaving her dace a pale mask. Sirius knew! But how could he know? They had barely spoken to each other at all! But more importantly, was Sirius about to blow her big secret?

There was no way Lily was going to allow that. So she did the only thing she could think of: she pretended to faint. She knew it was girly, but it caused Sirius and James to immediately jump to her side, and the rest of the class to murmur excitedly about what was going on between these three people.

As soon as Sirius and James bent down to help her, Lily whispered softly enough so that only they could hear her: "I need to talk to the both you _now!_"

James and Sirius helped Lily to her feet, debating in a code only they seemed to understand.

"Horace?" Sirius asked, leading James and Lily towards the ladder.

James shook his head. "Sealed. Kitchens?"

"Too many house-elves."

"R of R?"

"Seems like it's the only place."

With a nod, James and Sirius took off away from North Tower, gesturing for Lily to follow.

_How do I get myself into these situations?_ Lily thought as she chased after James and Sirius, who led her down the ladder and through many different corridors.

When Lily finally caught up with the two boys, they were pacing through the corridor with thoughtful expressions on both of their faces.

"What are you doing?" Lily gasped, tired from having run down three flights of stairs. She bent to lean her weight on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Where are we? There are no classrooms down this corridor!"

Lily saw Sirius and James exchange mischievous grins, as if their argument had never taken place. Then James turns and opened a door that Lily could have sworn was not there when she had last looked. So where had it come from?

"This isn't a classroom," Lily observed when she walked into the room, seeing nothing but three very comfortable-looking chairs in the center of the room.

"No," verified Sirius. "This is the Room of Requirement. And after the show you put on in Divination, we figured this would be the best place for us to talk. As you noticed, no one can get in here unless they know how to."

"Not many teachers even know this room exists," James continued. He gestured for Lily to take a seat. "But I'm guessing that's not what you wanted to talk about."

Lily sank into the chair James offered, thinking her heart had actually stopped beating.

Why should it, though? Why was Lily even so nervous about this? It wasn't like James didn't like her. Lily doubted he would shoot her down when she finally told him she liked him. And she knew that they were eventually going to get married, and even have a son together. So what was it that was causing her breath to catch?

Lily waited for James and Sirius to sit down, and then she looked at Sirius. For a while, she didn't say anything. To say something would mean to give up, after everything she had done to keep her secret.

But then Lily looked over to James, and their eyes met. Once again she got that whooshing feeling in the pit of her stomach, the one that made her happy just to be here in his presence. She hadn't looked into his eyes at all in the past three weeks, and now that she was doing so again she knew that she would be able to do this.

She hoped.

Turning back to Sirius, Lily cleared her throat. And then cleared it again. One more time and she was ready: "You were right," she admitted to Sirius. "I never actually _liked_ you."

Sirius nodded knowingly, confirming Lily's guess that he knew the rest of the truth. Probably for James's benefit, he asked, "So then why did you go out with me if you never liked me?"

This was it. Lily was going to tell James Potter that she liked him. IF she could actually get the words past the huge block that seemed to have formed in the back of her throat. Lily cleared her throat yet again, but it still didn't keep her voice from going hoarse when she face James and said nervously, "Because I wanted to get closer to _you_; because I liked _you._"

James just sort of stared at Lily, not saying anything. His face was totally blank, for which Lily was thankful; it was infinitely preferable to that stupid smile he'd been wearing for the past three weeks. When James finally spoke, it was in a firm tone: "No you don't."

Lily felt her eyebrows rise, all the way until she thought they had disappeared into her red hair. "I think I would know if I liked someone."

James shook his head. "You can't like me! I've been trying to get you to like me for years and you haven't liked me!"

Lily licked her lips nervously. This is not how she had imagined this conversation. For one thing: Sirius was still here, an amused look on his face as he turned his head to keep up with the exchanges between Lily and James. Secondly: James had always swept Lily into a kiss whenever she had imagined this conversation in her mind or in her dreams, but now he was flat out denying that Lily had any feelings for him. This wasn't supposed to be how relationships started! They were supposed to be romantic and exciting and fun! This was just weird and awkward and confusing.

"Well, actually," Lily corrected James, "I have liked you for a while, since you actually started to mature and stopped picking on Severus."

James still shook his head emphatically, insisting, "But you can't have! You're Lily Evans! I love you, but you hate me! This isn't supposed to be how this works out!"

Lily was stunned to hear her thoughts come out of James's mouth. "What do you mean?"

James actually blushed. What was _he_ blushing for? Lily was the one who had gone out on a limb and was now scrabbling for a new hold after the branch had broken beneath her squirrelly feet!

"I mean," James began, looking away, "that whenever I dreamed about this sort of conversation, it wasn't happening like _this._ It was more like, I-ask-you-out-you-accept-we-go-to-Madame-Puddifoots-and-have-a-romantic-kiss sort of thing."

"Whoa, hold it!" Sirius interrupted. "You imagined your first date with Lily Evans at _Madame Puddifoot's?_" When James nodded, Sirius asked incredulously, "Have you ever _seen_ that place, mate?"

Lily felt a small smile show on her face. _At least someone is having fun here…_ Then, rolling her eyes, she turned back to James and took his hand. "We can still do that, if you want," she offered. Then, thinking back, added, "Well, maybe except for the Madame Puddifoot's part; I've actually seen that place, and it doesn't look like the sort of place either of us would ever hang out in."

James laughed and squeezed her hand. "Okay, then. Lily Evans, will you go out with me?"

"Oh, come on!" Sirius exclaimed. "You're not proposing marriage or anything!" Sirius shut up when he saw the angry glares on Lily's and James's faces.

Lily looked back at James, into his eyes. The two of them smiled, each of them knowing what the other was feeling. Lily took her free hand and placed it on James's shoulder, trying to come up with something inspirational or wise to say. In the end, the only thing she could come up with was, "Yes."

And then Lily and James shared the romantic kiss that had been the last part of James's description of how the conversation _should_ have taken place. Well, it was as romantic as it could be with Sirius clucking away in the background and saying reproachfully, "I'm sorry, Lily dear, but if you're going to go snogging other guys right in front of me then I'm going to have to dump you."

жжж

Another week went by, in which the Divination class tried desperately to fill their Dream Diaries with meaningful, prophetic dreams. Professor Ramla extended the time they were going to study prophetic dreams, exclaiming that she had never had such a stupid class.

"You're all idiots!" she shouted one day. "How hard is it to make up a story with some symbolism worked in? I have a friend who can find symbolism in _mittens,_ and you guys can't even find something to symbolize _purity?_ You're all pathetic losers who will never amount to anything in life! Except as useful citizens who don't know any Divination, but you were bound to become so anyway!"

Even Lily and James weren't having any dreams about their future or Harry's, and they had excelled in the class so far. But all of their dreams so far had just turned out to be the usual random crap that comes out of everyone's heads.

"Well," James told Lily one Divination class, "last night I had some pretty bad dreams. I kept waking up after each one, too."

"What were the dreams about?" Lily asked, expecting a joke of some sort.

But James looked thoughtful. "Well, there was this one where I slept in on the morning of a Quidditch match, and the team captain woke me up and yelled at me that I'd missed the match and they'd had to get Longbottom to play for me. But I don't think that's very prophetic, because Longbottom is already our Seeker and he's an amazing player. And then there was this other one when I showed up to a match and all of the Slytherins were riding dragons instead of broomsticks, and one of them made their dragon catch the end of my broom's tail on fire."

"Well, I _hope_ that's not a prophetic dream!" Lily exclaimed.

James looked extremely uncomfortable about something, which caused Lily to get worried. This relationship with James was definitely moving faster than her relationship with Sirius; were they going too fast? If James wanted to go any farther than kissing, Lily would have to end the relationship here and now, since there was no way she would ever do that until after she was married.

James finally found his voice. "I think I know why we're not dreaming anything about Harry," he said, leaning his elbows on the table and bunching his hands into fists. Lily took his hands in an effort to calm him down. "But I don't think you're going to like it."

"Tell me anyway."

James met her eyes, and the two of them smiled before looking back down at their hands. For a moment they just sat there, their fingers entwined. Then, James suggested slowly, "I think the reason we're not having any dreams about Harry is because we're not… dreaming _together_."

Lily tilted her head to the side, confused. "Dreaming _together?_ What do you mean?"

James bit his lip, and Lily squeezed his hand to urge him to continue. "I think that for this to work, we need to be… together… when we dream."

"_No._" Their eyes met, and both of them knew on some level that neither of them would ever want to do anything beyond what they were doing already until after they were married. Not even a grade was worth that.

James shook his head, a smile beginning. "I wasn't thinking of _that_! I was thinking more just sleeping in the same location."

Lily furrowed her eyebrows, thinking. "How would location affect the probability of having visions?" she asked.

James was ready with an answer. Apparently he'd been thinking about this all week. "Well, our other visions only occur when we're having them together. What makes dreams so different?"

жжж

_An older version of Sirius Black—a corpse-like one with filthy, matted hair that hung limply down to his elbows and waxy skin stretched tightly over the bones of his skull, yellow teeth bared in a grin—was pointing a wand at Harry, Hermione, and Ron. "Expelliarmus!" he shouted, causing wands to float out of the hands of Harry and Hermione; Sirius must have been using Ron's wand. _

_Sirius took a step closer to Harry, his eyes fixed on the boy. "I thought you'd come and help your friend," he croaked. His voice sounded as though he had long since lost the habit of using it. "Your father would have done the same for me. Brave of you, not to run for a teacher. I'm grateful… it will make everything much easier…"_

_The taunt about James seemed to enrage Harry, causing the thirteen-year-old to start forward. Ron and Hermione caught him before he could get very far, Ron vowing that Sirius would have to kill all of them if he wanted to kill Harry. _

_Something flickered in Sirius's eyes, and he told the redhead to sit down before he damaged his broken leg even more. "There'll be only one murder here tonight," Sirius said when Ron insisted that he would have to kill all three teenagers. His yellow grin widened. _

_"Why's that?" Harry spat, trying to wrench himself free of Ron and Hermione. "Didn't care last time, did you? Didn't mind slaughtering all those Muggles to get at Pettigrew…. What's the matter, gone soft in Azkaban?" Hermione pleaded with Harry to stop, but Harry continued, bellowing, "HE KILLED MY MUM AND DAD!" With that, Harry broke free of the hold his friends had on him and attacked Sirius, forcing raised wand tips away from him by fastening his hand over Sirius's emaciated wrist. The two of them fell back and to the floor when Harry started striking Sirius, punching every bit of him that he could reach. Sparks from the wands barely missed Harry's face, but Harry didn't seem to care. _

_Sirius's free hand found Harry's throat, and squeezed tightly. _

_"No," he hissed, "I've waited too long—!"_

_Hermione and Ron threw themselves at Sirius, freeing Harry to chase after one of the wands that had dropped to the floor when Ron had dropped his weak body on top of Sirius's. Before he could reach his wand, a cat with an oddly squished face sank both sets of front claws deep into Harry's arm, and then chased after the wand when Harry threw it off. _

_"NO YOU DON'T!" Harry roared at the cat, aiming a kick at it that caused it to leap out of the way, hissing madly. Grabbing his wand, Harry yelled for Ron and Hermione to get out of the way. Ron and Hermione immediately complied, Hermione running to gather her and Ron's wands while Ron crawled over to the four-poster bed in the corner and rubbed his injured leg. _

_Meanwhile, Harry stepped closer to Sirius, his wand pointed directly at the adult's heart. _

_"Going to kill me, Harry?" Sirius whispered despite a bloody nose. _

_Even though his wand was held steady, Harry's voice trembled. "You killed my parents."_

_Sirius stared up at Harry and said quietly, "I don't deny it. But if you knew the whole story."_

_"The whole store?" Harry repeated angrily. "You sold them to Voldemort. That's all I need to know."_

_"You've got to listen to me," Sirius said, a note of urgency in his voice. "You'll regret it if you don't…. You don't understand…."_

_"I understand a lot better than you think," insisted Harry, his voice shaking more than ever. "You never heard her, did you? My mum… trying to stop Voldemort killing me… and you did that… you did it…."_

_The cat leaped and settled itself over Sirius's heart, as if it had formed an emotional attachment to the man. Sirius tried to shove the cat out of the way, but the cat refused to move, sinking its claws into Sirius's robes. _

_In the next few minutes, nothing happened. Harry kept his wand pointed at Sirius's heart, at the cat, as if he were frozen. Eventually, muffled footsteps could be heard echoing up the floor, as if someone was moving around downstairs. Hermione called for the person—whoever they were—to come help them. _

_The door burst open in a shower of red sparks, and Remus came hurtling into the room, his face bloodless, wand raised and ready. Taking in the scene before him, Remus disarmed the three teenagers, catching them in his hand as they flew towards him as a result of the Expelliarmus charm. Turning to Sirius, he asked tensely, "Where is he, Sirius?"_

_For a few seconds, Sirius didn't move. He sat there with a blank face, staring at Remus as if he had never seen him before. He slowly raised his hand and pointed at Ron, who looked bewildered. _

_"But then…," Lupin muttered, staring at Sirius so intently that it seemed he was trying to read his mind, "…why hasn't he shown himself before now? Unless"—Remus's eyes widened, as if he was seeing something more to Sirius that none of the teenagers could see, "—unless _he_ was the one… unless you switched… without telling me?"_

_Sirius nodded, his eyes never leaving Remus's face. _

_Harry asked Remus what was happening, addressing the man as Professor. His question seemed to die in his throat when he saw Remus lower his wand and go to help Sirius up, embracing him as if they were long lost brothers. _

_While Harry stared incredulously, Hermione screamed, "I DON'T BELIEVE IT!"_

_Remus let go of Sirius and turned to Hermione, who was pointing at him. "You—you—!"_

_"Hermione—."_

_"—you and him!"_

_"Hermione, calm down—."_

_"I didn't tell anyone!" Hermione shrieked. "I've been covering up for you—!"_

_"Hermione, listen to me, please!" Remus shouted. "I can explain—."_

_"I trusted you!" This time it was Harry who spoke, his voice wavering as he shouted angrily at Remus, "and all the time you've been his friend!"_

_"You're wrong," said Remus. "I haven't been Sirius's friend, but I am now—Let me explain…."_

_"NO!" Hermione screamed. "Harry, don't trust him, he's been helping Black get into the castle, he wants you dead too—_he's a werewolf!_"_

James shot up, panting. His sudden movement dropped Lily from where she had been sleeping next to him on the couch in the Gryffindor Common Room, and she landed on the floor with a squeak. James helped her up, but at the same time his mind was fully and completely on the dream he was sure they had just shared. He knew they had shared it when James's eyes met Lily's, and he saw that she knew about Remus's furry little problem.

That wasn't what was concerning James, though. He could always explain that to her later, since Lily was not the type of person to discriminate someone because a monster had bitten them as a child. No, what was bothering him was the knowledge the dream had just provided: that Sirius was going to kill him and Lily, and Remus was going to help him kill Harry.


	10. knowingly

_Wow, I have a lot of apologies to make..._

_First of all I would like to apologize for not posting this chapter sooner! I know it has been an incredibly long time since I last updated, and now I'm almost scared to post this and get a million and one nasty reviews saying how horrible I am for abandoning you all with such an evil cliff-hanger... I never meant to do that! Time just got away from me, and I have no excuses. _

_Secondly, I'm sorry but there are no premonitions in this chapter. I typed this all out in the past two hours, and now it's midnight and I really need to go to sleep so I can be awake in school tomorrow. I wanted to post something TONIGHT so that you all know that I am still alive and still here, with the full intention of finishing this fic! And I promise I will try to get the next chapter out sooner. _

_Now, please enjoy this chapter and accept my apologies! I'm sorry! Lo siento!_

* * *

I can't bring myself to meet Remus's eyes. I know it really shouldn't make a difference, but ever since that night when James and I had that dream, I just haven't been able to look at him. It's not everyday that you find out your boyfriend's best friend is a _werewolf!_

Don't get me wrong; I'm not prejudiced or anything. It's just… knowing that werewolves exist and actually _knowing_ a werewolf are two completely different things. I didn't know this was going to affect me so much, but it really has.

I can't meet Sirius's eyes, either. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the dream prophesied that Sirius was going to murder me and James, and then proceed to attempt to kill our only son.

These are the reasons why I let James to all the talking when we confront Remus and Sirius before breakfast.

"Guys!" James calls out to his friends to stop them from leaving the Common Room. He squeezes my hand, more for me to give him strength than for him to give strength to me, when Sirius, Remus, and Peter turn around and start walking back.

"What's up, James?" Remus asks.

"Yeah," Sirius says, smiling mischievously. "How was your night on the couch with Señorita Evans?"

If I was feeling more like myself right now, I would probably give Sirius a nice black eye for that comment, which is followed up with shaking wrists as if Sirius is shaking maracas. But because of the lack of sleep that followed the dream, I'm too tired to do much but glare at Sirius's shoes with slits for eyes.

James ignores Sirius's comment completely, turning to Peter. "Peter, you can go on to breakfast if you want."

Peter looks worriedly at his other two friends, probably wondering if something is going on that he is being purposefully excluded for. Peter annoys the hell out of me sometimes; he's one of those people who would beg for you to punch them if it would make you his friend, and I hate people like that. I know James hates people like that too, which makes me wonder why he even considers Peter a friend.

After Peter _finally_ makes his way out—looking over his shoulder to make sure it's what all of his friends really want—James takes his hand out of mine to ball them into fists. "Are you," he hisses through clenched teeth, "my best mates or not?"

Remus and Sirius both look shocked, and they both nod their heads emphatically while muttering assurances that they really are James's friends, and that James can always count on them for anything and everything.

"Why?" Sirius asks. "Why are you asking us this all of a sudden, after everything we've done together?"

James glares at his friend, breathing heavily. I haven't seen James this angry at Sirius since I had been pretending to date Black! "Because Lily and I had a dream last night."

"About what?" Remus asks curiously.

James takes a moment to answer, looking like he is choosing his words very, very carefully. Finally, he says in a strained voice, "About our deaths."

Remus still looks confused. "'Our' as in the Marauders, or as in you and Lily?"

James turns his head quickly to look at Remus, but then turns back to Sirius and says, "'Our' as in me and Lily being murdered by _you_." He faces Remus again. "As in _you_ helping _him_ murder Harry."

Sirius and Remus both gasp, and then stood in silence. Finally, Sirius speaks: "Do you really think we'd do that, James?" he demands. "Do you really think Remus and I, who have been your best mates since Year 1, would ever _murder_ you? Would ever do _anything_ to hurt you or any of your possible future children?"

"Why?" Remus asks. "Because some dream told you? We're your friends, James! Why would you think this?"

"I DON'T KNOW!" James bellows angrily, taking his hand out of mine to make frustrated gestures at the ceiling. "I DON'T KNOW! All I know is that last night we had a dream about Harry trying to kill Sirius—!"

"And you say _I'm_ the traitorous one?" Sirius interrupts.

"BECAUSE SIRIUS HAD KILLED HIS PARENTS!" James continued, glaring at his friend. "HARRY WANTED REVENGE! AND THEN HERMIONE DISCOVERED THAT REMUS WAS IN ON THE WHOLE THING AND WANTED TO HELP SIRIUS KILL HARRY!"

"_What?_" Remus exclaims. "I would never do that! And who is Hermione?"

"Harry's friend," I mutter, the first thing I've said all day. "She's going to be the smartest girl in her year." I am finally able to look up and meet Remus's eyes. "She's smart enough to figure out your secret… why you always seem to disappear during the full moon."

Remus's face goes so pale that someone walking in might think I had just performed the Killing Curse on him. He opens his mouth to say something, but Sirius interrupts him.

"YOU TOLD HER?" Sirius bellows at James.

"IT WAS IN THE DREAM!" counters James defensively.

"_STOP!_" I scream. "I'm tired of hearing you argue! You're best friends, now stop this!"

All three boys are now looking at me as if I have grown three extra heads, although right now I could use three more brains to handle everything that has happened since third year. I just can't stand to just sit here while these three boys duke it out over this…

Unlike James, I don't think that we've been given these visions just so we could look at our son's life before it actually happens; I think we've been given the chance to see all of this for a reason. Maybe we're actually destined to change things, to make sure none of this actually happens. My take on fate, though, is not the usual opinion: I think that everyone has many different fates, and the decisions you make every day—even the little ones—determine your overall destiny. So who's to say that these visions tell a future that is set in stone? Maybe we can change things. Unfortunately that won't happen until these boys get it through their thick heads that there actually are precautions we can take.

James takes a deep breath to calm himself down, and takes my hand again. He gives it an extra squeeze, this time for my benefit, and admits, "You're right, Lily."

I can't believe I'm actually hearing James admit this. Am I really having that much of an affect on him?

"What do you suggest, then?"

I gulp, knowing that James won't like my answer. "We don't have to sit back and let this happen," I say, putting off my answer for as long as I can. When I see James's face, though, together with Sirius's and Remus's faces, I resign myself to the fact that they won't let me go anywhere until I tell them what it is that I have in mind. "We could try… the Unbreakable Vow."

The room is filled with noise before the words completely leave my lips.

"No way!" Sirius objects outright. "No freaking way!"

"We can't!" Remus yells passionately. "It's—!"

"_It's Dark Magic!_" James finishes.

I wait patiently for all of the boys to finish their tirades before pointing out, "There has got to be a reason why we're seeing these things, James. Do you want to change the future or not?"

"Yes!"

"Would you like to see your son come of age with your own, living, most likely middle-aged eyes?"

"_Yes!_"

"Would you like to be able to trust your friends for the rest of your life?"

"YES!"

"THEN WHY NOT?"

"BECAUSE IT'S DARK MAGIC, LILY!"

I look into James's hazel eyes, noticing that the brown is overshadowing the green, the way it usually does whenever James is scared. I know that he hates Dark Magic with a passion, but we have to do everything in our power—magical or otherwise—to not only ensure the future safety of us and out son, but to continue the friendships we have today.

Speaking of friendships, Amissa and Winola enter the Common Room, looking for me. When they find me with three of the Marauders, all four of us looking as if we might kill someone, they make their ways over to us, respecting the tense silence that has taken the room until they finally come up next to me.

"What's going on?" Amissa asks.

"Yeah, why are you all so…"

"Scared?" James asks sarcastically. "Maybe when the person _you_ love wants you to perform Dark Magic, you'll understand."

When Amissa and Winola look at me as if I am completely out of my mind, I have to explain everything to them. When I'm finished, they look reproachfully at James and his friends.

"Why not try it?" Winola asks. "You _do_ want to change the future, right?"

I clamp my hand over James's mouth before he can respond. "We've already been through this part, Winola."

"I can't see any other way of knowing for sure that this isn't going to happen…" Amissa says thoughtfully. "Unless you would all just like to trust each other and risk the consequences…"

"I say we risk the consequences!"

I look angrily at James. "_Risk the consequences?_" I repeat. "You're talking about your life right now. Your life, mine, and your son's. And You want to _risk the consequences?_" I glare at James, and then, without waiting for his response, I yell, "Well, I know another way we can make sure this whole thing never happens: we never get married! There _won't_ be any Harry James Potter, there _won't_ be any murder, and there _won't_ be any betrayal!"

James looks as if someone just slapped him. I watch him take several deep breaths, not noticing that my own chest is rising and falling in perfect synchronization with his. Finally, he says weakly, "Let's do it, then."

It's then that I realize what I've done: I just pressured my boyfriend into doing something he _hates_, something he absolutely lives against. What sort of girlfriend am I? But when I open my mouth to apologize and take it all back, James interrupts me.

"Will one of you be our Bonder?" he asks Amissa and Winola lifelessly.

Amissa nods her head and steps forward. Amissa has been my friend longer than Winola has; it wasn't until second year that Winola became my friend after we shared the blame for a mishap in Potions, but Amissa was my friend right from day one. It doesn't surprise me one bit that she is the first to volunteer for this sort of thing… for me.

Amissa pulls her wand out of her robes and places its tip where Sirius, Remus, James and I have linked our hands from where we are now kneeling on the ground.

James, knowing more about this sort of spell than I do, begins: "Do you, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black, promise to only raise a wand or fist to me and my family when it is in a gesture of friendship?"

Remus nods, and Sirius speaks for them: "We do."

A thin tongue of brilliant flame slithers from Amissa's wand and winds its way around our hands.

"Will you keep my secrets, and those of my family, throughout your entire lives?"

"We will."

Another tongue of fire snakes out of the wand and winds around the other one, forming a glowing chain around our hands.

"Will you never—,"

"Knowingly," I add, knowing what James is about to say and realizing that accidents will always happen no matter what spell is used to prevent them.

"Will you never _knowingly_ harm me or any member of my family for as long as you live?"

"We won't."

One more tongue of fire, and the chain is complete.


	11. going stag

"Well, I'm off." Lupin stood, stretching his arms to take up time.

For a second Lily wondered where Remus was going so late in the evening, but then she saw the sun setting through the Common Room window, the brilliant orb turning a bright shade of orange as it sank below the trees of the Forbidden Forrest. Suddenly wary, Lily felt her muscles tense; the reaction made her feel guilty for acting so differently around Remus since she found out about his secret—his "furry little problem", as James called it in public—just last week. Lily didn't think anything could surprise her after finding out her boyfriend's best friend was a werewolf.

"Alright. We'll meet up with you sometime around midnight, then."

Apparently she was wrong.

"WHAT!" Lily gasped, looking at James from her side of their shared armchair. "You're going to WHAT with WHO sometime around WHEN!"

Noticing the increasing number of people watching the beginning of another Potter-Evans Battle, James clamped a hand over Lily's mouth, only to let go with a gasp when the redhead bit him.

Lily stood to glower down at James. "What's going on?" she demanded.

Somehow noticing the position of the sun in all that chaos, Sirius got up from where he'd been lying on the plush red carpet and, brushing off his robes, said loudly, "Hey, Moony, weren't you saying earlier that your stomach was really bothering you?"

Catching on, Peter jumped up and added, "Yeah, we'd better take you to the hospital wing! It might be something serious!"

Wearing looks of exaggerated concern, the two boys went to help their "sick" friend get to the hospital wing… or wherever it was they took him during the full moon.

Lily still stood over James, waiting for him to explain. She knew that James wouldn't leave her in the dark for long; not with so many people staring at them right now. He would eventually have to cave in and tell her what he was talking about.

James tried hard to fight back against the fierce glare his girlfriend was giving him. Lily could tell he was on the verge of laughing at the fact that their relationship had not done anything to end their numerous arguments; they still argued over everything, only now they seemed to enjoy challenging each other to a verbal battle of wits.

Finally, James caved. He stood up from the armchair and, taking Lily's hand in his, guided her out of the Gryffindor Common Room and down the nearest flight of stairs, following many dark corridors until he seemed to be certain that no one could overhear them.

_Why doesn't he just take me back to that Room of Requirement place?_ Lily wondered. She shrugged off the thought, thinking that James probably had his reasons for not taking her there. Besides: they weren't here to fight.

James faced Lily and took both of her hands in his. "I want you to know," he said, trying to keep a smile off of his face, "that what I am about to tell you is going to make you very mad at me. So before I tell you…"

Before Lily could stop him, James was kissing her. She would have pushed him away and demanded that he explain things to her properly, but Lily was still getting used to the fact that she was kissing _James_. The fact that she was kissing at all added to her encouraging reaction; before her relationship with James, she had never kissed or been kissed by anyone.

James pulled away only to hug Lily close to him, lowering his head so that it rested on her shoulder with his mouth by her ear. Lily tried not to laugh at his breath tickling her when James whispered apprehensively, "Moony isn't the only one who turns into an animal on the full moon."

And suddenly Lily was hugging a stag.

Lily gasped and pulled away, only to bang the back of her head against some sort of stick that pushed her right back into the creature—only now it was James that she was pushed into.

"Sorry," he apologized, "I forgot about the antlers. Are you okay?"

"_Antlers?_" Lily gasped as she pushed James away from her. "You think that's what's at the front of my mind right now? James, you're—!"

"Shh!"

"But you're—!"

"Lily!"

"_Illegal!_"

"I know!"

"How—?"

"Calm down."

"_Why?_"

"Lily, _breathe!_"

"_But you're—!_"

"LILY!"

۞۞۞

_They'd done it! They'd won the Quidditch Cup! Lily couldn't believe it; she felt like she should still be back there in that stadium, but the feeling of extreme exhilaration, the feeling as if she had just chugged ten million gallons of Mountain Dew, told her she was wrong. _

_Lily handed the Cup back to whoever had passed it to her—it was being passed around the room so that everyone could share the victory—and jumped up and down. She needed to do something—anything! She needed to hug someone. Frantically, she grabbed Longbottom into a tight hug, and the two of them jumped up and down together. _

_But where was James? He should be here! He'd gotten another detention—which was why Lily had to fill in for him on the team—but that should have been finished an hour ago. Although maybe he was taking his time… Lily knew that James, like everyone else, never expected Gryffindor to win the Quidditch Cup with James stuck in detention, especially considering the new Keeper's doubtful skills. Could it be that James didn't want to come back to the Common Room, thinking that they had lost the game and the Cup to the Slytherins?_

_Just then, the portrait hole opened and James himself crawled through. Lily let go of Longbottom and ran to James, eager to be the one to tell him the good news. She opened her arms to hug him—there was too much energy to just run!—and was swept up in his embrace. _

_Lily was suddenly surprised by the feel of James's lips on hers. All of the energy she had had was immediately replaced by numb shock; the only thing she could feel was her mouth, which was being pressed by someone else's—James's! _

_James pulled away, looking surprised at his own behavior. Lily couldn't help but grin at him, feeling the energy rush back into her with the force of a tsunami. She couldn't believe James had done that in front of everyone! She couldn't believe he had done that at all, for that matter! _

_James looked up over Lily's head, looking for something. Lily turned to see what he was looking at: a red-headed boy holding a bottle of butterbeer in one hand and wearing an expression of confusion, as if he wasn't sure whether he should be angry, happy, surprised, or all three. The boy nodded at James, who grinned and nodded back. James took Lily's hand and guided her once again out of the Common Room, hopefully taking her somewhere where they could kiss in private. _

۞۞۞

Lily kept her eyes closed, wishing that the dream would continue. She tried to make herself go back to sleep, but there was just too much energy inside of her, and that stupid grin wouldn't go away! Eventually she gave up trying to bring the dream back; it was never going to work until both sides of her body were the same temperature!

But when she opened her eyes, Lily discovered the reason why the right side of her body seemed to have acquired a higher temperature than the left: James was lying next to her, with his arm curled behind her head and around her neck so that his hand rested on her left shoulder. His other arm was brought around so that he seemed to be hugging her in his sleep.

Lily smiled at the grin James was wearing. What was he dreaming about? Probably flying on his broomstick, or pulling a prank, or some other silly thing like that.

Well, Lily's dream couldn't come back; why should James go on in such bliss?

Lily lifted her head and then quickly brought it down hard onto James's arm.

"Ow!"

"What were you dreaming about?"

James looked at Lily disbelievingly. "You woke me up for _that?_"

Lily gave James a stubborn face. "What were you dreaming about?" she repeated obstinately.

James grinned. "I dreamed I was talking to you about a Quidditch game."

"Oh, well then that's definitely a good dream for you; I'd never do that in real life."

"And occasionally we'd stop talking and start kissing."

"A wonderful dream for you, then."

James grinned, but then suddenly pulled his arm out from under Lily's head. He examined the back of his hand, running the fingers of his other hand over the smooth skin as if he expected something to be there.

"What's wrong?"

James looked back up at Lily and smiled. "Nothing; it's just that I also dreamed that, before we started snogging our way through the corridors of Hogwarts, I was in detention with this fat teacher who had me cut into my hand."

"_Ow…_"

"Yeah… she made me cut _I will not tell lies_ into the back of my hand… only I wasn't doing it directly; I was writing the words with a quill, and the quill would write the words in my blood. As I was writing, the words would form on my hand." James sat up, rubbing his hand. "It felt so real…"

Lily leaned back, just now noticing that they were in the hospital wing. "What happened?" she asked.

James stopped rubbing his hand and looked at Lily, looking as if he was seriously considering whether or not to tell her the truth. Lily gave him a hard look to make up his mind for him; she would be able to tell a lie from him right away.

"I told you… rather, I _showed_ you… another little secret that my friends and I have been keeping."

Lily looked at James, waiting for him to continue as he took in a deep breath.

"You started hyperventilating, and you passed out."

Suddenly, Lily remembered: James was an Animagus! He was an _illegal_ Animagus! But then if James was an Animagus, then Sirius would be as well; those two never did anything on their own. And Peter would never be left out of anything if he had anything to say about it, so he had to be an Animagus as well! The whole lot of them was one big group of law-breakers!

And then Lily realized: James had been sleeping on the bed with Lily; he had spent the night with her, dreaming the same thing she had been dreaming. Not only did this mean that they had had another vision—they'd have to talk about that later—but it also meant that James hadn't gone anywhere at midnight.

Lily looked up at James. "James, you have to promise me that you won't go out with Remus again… at least, not during the full moon."

James stood up. "What? No! That's the whole reason we _became_… I _have_ to, Lily!"

"Promise me!"

"Lily, I don't go around like that with Moony just because it's fun; I do it for Moony! You have no idea—before we all started going with him, it was so hard for him—it hurt him, Lily! He wouldn't just transform—he would _become…_ he would actually _be_…" James tried to find the right words to use so that Lily would understand what he was saying, but Snape—lying a few beds down with what looked like a burn on his arm—wouldn't. "With us there, Moony would still have some control. We could go out—never in public! Only ever in the woods!—and have a good time, and laugh about it later."

Lily shook her head. "What if Remus gets away from you? What if he _hurts_ you?"

James grinned, and Lily felt the urge to slap the cocky look right off of his face. "Only humans can be _badly_ hurt."

Lily scoffed. "Only humans?"

"You know, you could…"

"Could what?"

"You know… come with us."

"But I'd have to—!"

"It's easy, once you know what to do."

"But it's—!"

"It's _fun._"

"_Fun! It's not FUN, it's—!_"

"How about I help you do it once, and then if you like it you can do it with the rest of us."

"James!"

"Lily!"

Lily scowled at the bad imitation of her voice. "That's not what I sound like!" she protested.

James ignored her change of subject. "Come on," he urged. "I know it would mean a lot to Moony…" He leaned down and kissed her softly. "And you know it would mean a lot to _me…_"

Lily weighed the options. If James could make her an Animagus, it would be wonderful to see what it would be like to become another creature. And he said they could go out alone the first time… if she didn't like it, or if she thought it was too dangerous to go gallivanting around with Remus on the full moon, she could just say no.

"Alright… _one time._"

A few beds away, Snape gagged and pulled his pillow up over his face to block out their voices.

* * *

_Author's Note: OK, I know I haven't updated in... I honestly don't want to think about how long it's been since I last updated any of my fics! _

_I want you to know that I AM here! I AM writing; I actually have two more chapters written up for this fic, but this was the only one I had time to type up, since they're all hand-written on notebook paper (the way JK writes!). I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next, because the internet at my house was shut off (at least, that's what I'm telling you; to tell you the real story might lessen me in your eyes, and I really would like good reviews! Although please tell me if you think I've done anything wrong!) and I have to post during my limited free time at my summer job. _

_Please don't bite my head off for not posting! I really am scared to post this, because I know some of you are going to go all "Geez, finally! What took you so long?" on me... --hides!--_

_Not sure if you caught this, but I was trying to keep this chapter as light as I could while still appealing to those of you who are in love with romance. I know a lot of my friends who read this are probably going to doubt that I wrote this (I am NOT a romantic person by ANY stretch of ANYONE'S imagination!) but yes, I actually did sit down and write this up. _

_HP belongs to JK, as well as that excerpt from book 6 (I know it's out of sequence, but I'm not going in order anymore; it's too hard to do when I'm also trying to come up with new divination techniques for Lily and James to experiment with!)._

_Lily's personality is slightly borrowed from my friend Ashley, with a dash of Cynthia and a splash of Brinda, and maybe a couple of helpings of your's truly!_

_Amissa's personality is all Michael, random haiku and all. (Yes, I based a girl's personality off of a guy's personality!)_

_Winola's personality is slightly Brinda-ish... or maybe it's Katie-ish... I don't remember who I based Winola off of! No, wait! Yes I do! It's Katie! Katiekatiekatie! _

_Now, a lot of you are probably wondering WHY I am telling you this... I have no clue! Just REVIEW!_

_IMPERIO!_

_You... shall... review!_

_Ah! No! I swear, Minister, I didn't do it! It was all... Arthur! Yes, King Arthur put the Imperius Curse on my readers! WHY DON'T YOU BELIEVE ME? NO, NOT AZKABAN! _


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